


His Lost Master

by tigerseye46



Series: His Lost Love [1]
Category: LEGO Monkie Kid
Genre: (questioning if this is a crack idea), Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Mutual Pining, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Reincarnation, Roommates, Tang is Tripitaka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27910930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigerseye46/pseuds/tigerseye46
Summary: Pigsy had always felt certain feelings towards his master, Tripitaka, feelings he couldn’t admit not even to himself, at least back then. He was extremely immature, he knew his master would never go for him. Years passed since he had seen his master, Wukong and Sandy, but thanks to MK that last part had changed. Although he could never see Tripitaka again, he had given up immortality and reincarnated after Monkey vanished and that broke Pigsy. He tried to find his master's reborn spirit until he just gave up. He started his noodle shop and kept himself busy then he met Tang, a regular and then his roommate. Tang knew a lot about the legends of the Monkey King, he never told Tang that he was the same Pigsy in some of the legends. Tang would sometimes talk about those stories like he had been there, he knew things that were never mentioned or unimportant stories, but that was ridiculous. Pigsy entertained the idea that Tang might be his lost master but he pushed that thought out, they were way different and the thought of Tang as Tripitaka was too painful, too impossible, it would mean his master was in his reach yet so far away so he ignored it. Pigsy was determined to not have his heart broken like that again.
Relationships: Pigsy/Tang, Pigsy/Tripitaka
Series: His Lost Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085942
Comments: 19
Kudos: 41





	1. A Look Into the Past

**Author's Note:**

> *sips Pepsi* Hi, it's been awhile since I've written anything on here. I've been really into Monkie Kid lately and this is gonna be my first contribution. I somehow got this idea after seeing different things in the fandom (probably a weird idea). Tang is Tripitaka reincarnated and him and Pigsy are roommates. Hope you enjoy!

The day started out the same, Tang was entertaining MK with another story about the Monkey King while Pigsy was working in the kitchen ready to shout at MK for not going on his delivery run. The kid loved the legends way too much to the point he neglected his job just to hear a story and that frustrated Pigsy to no end, didn’t the kid know he was running an important business here? He needed to pick up the pace! 

MK was fixated on Tang’s story, his eyes sparkling. “The Monkey King had always tried to protect his companions from demons in disguise but one of the most notable demons in disguise was...” Tang explained. Pigsy’s right eye started to twitch. He grabbed the spoon from the pot and raised it high above the counter.

“Kid, Tang-” Pigsy started to growl, clenching his free hand into a fist. Tang and MK paid him no mind, he always tried to interrupt so they were used to it.

Tang, closing one eye and bringing up one hand, said “So the monk, Tripitaka with Pigsy’s “great” convincing got the Monkey King kicked out of the group.” Tang smirked at Pigsy and MK giggled. Pigsy crossed his arms as he felt his anger building further. Ugh that story, was that really the one he was gonna tell MK today? Ever since Tang learned Pigsy was the same Pigsy from the legends, he teased Pigsy nonstop about his old, stupid decisions (and there were _a lot_ of stupid of decisions) while MK was in a mix of laughter and being amazed that his boss was the famous Pigsy, mostly the latter, thankfully. Pigsy hated the person he was in the past, he was a straight up coward and let Wukong do everything by himself, not that Wukong needed the help.

Tang stared at him expectedly. “Nothing to say, Zhu Bajie?” He laughed.

“Shut up Tang!” Pigsy whacked the spoon on the table, making Tang and MK stiffen. “And MK, get to work!” Pigsy pushed all the take out bags into MK’s arms and shoved him a little outside the shop.

MK spun around and tried to excuse himself by saying, “But I haven't heard the end of the story yet!”

“Yea, yea, yea, don’t care. Just go do your deliveries!” He shoved MK again, this time towards his vehicle. MK placed all the deliveries on the back of his vehicle, put his headphones on and glanced at Pigsy before driving away. Pigsy stomped back inside the shop coming back to Tang who had a small frown on his face.

“Hey! I didn’t get my free bowl of noodles yet!” Tang pouted. 

Pigsy barked out a laugh. “I’m not complainin'! Finally, a time where ya aren’t freeloadin' off me.” He went back to cooking.

“Hmph! Well I never!”

“Now come on and do the dishes for me,” Pigsy commanded.

“Do I have to?” Tang groaned.

“Your dirty freeloadin' doesn’t pay the rent for this place so yes!”

Tang groaned again, he got off his stool and treaded towards the other side of the counter. Once he went to the other side, he started scrubbing the dishes while Pigsy was stirring some soup.

“Sooo…” Tang glanced at Pigsy. “What was it like traveling with the Monkey King?”

Pigsy stopped stirring. “Heh, irritating. He always thought he was so high and mighty.” He rolled his eyes.

“He’s the great sage, of course he’s high and mighty,” Tang pointed out.

“He only got that title after throwing a massive tantrum, he got lucky. I remember that one time when he took his sweet time trying to get the five treasures instead of rescuing us.” Pigsy scoffed at the memory and continued stirring. Tang nodded and they did their respective things in silence.

* * *

It was closing time and MK had just come back after delivering the last order, thankfully he didn’t get sidetracked with a random demon attack or anything else. 

“Good job kid. Looks like every last order was delivered,” Pigsy congratulated while putting everything in its proper place.

“Thanks Pigsy!” MK's smile widened and started sweeping around. “So Pigsy..”

“Ugh. What? Want to know how I dealt with the “great” Sun Wukong too?” It’s not like he didn’t care about his older brother, irritating as he may be, but he didn’t want to talk about the guy all the time or have himself be known as just “the pig who traveled with the amazing Sun Wukong,” there was more to him.

“Well not just that! Plus I already know how you dealt with him.” MK brought a hand over his mouth to hide his giggling and Pigsy huffed. Although Pigsy will admit that he was kinda surprised, the kid was always looking forward to hearing things about his idol. 

“What is it then?”

“Well I know how you were with the Monkey King and Sandy but what about Tripitaka? You protected him, sorta,” MK muttered that last part and Pigsy grumbled. “so you must have fond memories! He’s the great monk who traveled to retrieve the scriptures! Traveling through the west with so much danger around, he’s amazing!” MK leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “Not just anyone can do that! He- he was incredible! He’s kinda like me! A little bit…”

Pigsy rolled his eyes. “Sit down, kid. I’ll tell ya a thing or two.” MK eagerly shook his head up and down and sat on a stool, his legs swinging back and forth. Pigsy staggered to where MK was and leaned back against the counter, arms resting on it.

“About Tripitaka… hmmm” Pigsy paused and closed his eyes.

* * *

_Thousands of years ago_

_The group of five had just decided to stop for a bit and relax before they go through more of their perilous journey. Wukong was floating on his cloud, Tripitaka asked Sandy to help him off the dragon horse and Pigsy had a goofy smile on his face._

_“Thank you Sandy,” Tripitaka said in a soft tone._

_“Of course, master!” Sandy beamed. Pigsy squinted his eyes and clenched his fists, Sandy was too busy smiling at his master’s praise to notice. Wukong floated beside Pigsy, a hand tucked under his chin with a raised eyebrow and a smirk._

_Pigsy turned away angrily, facing the direction Wukong was floating near. Pigsy jumped back as his gaze landed on Wukong and Wukong rolled back laughing. “Don’t scare me like that!” Pigsy clenched his fists tighter. “Why were ya standin' there anyway?”_

_The Monkey King sat back up, clasped his hands together and brought them to his face. “Oh Tripitaka, why don’t I help you off your horse instead? What’s that you say? You want to abandon this journey and move somewhere safe where we can be together, me too!” He imitated and made direct eye contact with Pigsy._

_Pigsy’s face turned red and he stammered, “Shut- shut up! I have no idea what you’re talkin' about!”_

_“Uh huh, like you don’t have feelings for our master.”_

_“I don’t!”_

_“Sure!” Wukong said unconvinced._

_“I seriously don’t!” Pigsy raised his rake, Wukong took his staff out of his ear in response._

_“Stop fighting you two!” Tripitaka suddenly appeared in between them and put a hand on each of their chests to push them back._

_“Sorry master” Pigsy lowered his rake and rubbed the back of his neck._

_“Sorry master,” Wukong mocked and rolled his eyes._

_“Why I oughta!” Pigsy stepped towards Wukong._

_“Enough,” Tripitaka intervened. “Let’s calm down and Wukong stop teasing Pigsy about whatever it is.”_

_“Alright fine. Whatever you say.” He rolled his eyes once again and floated off to find something to eat._

_Pigsy sent a glare towards the direction Wukong headed off to. He faced his master and wrapped his arms around Tripitaka. “Thank you master! Thought he would never leave me alone!”_

_Tripitaka returned the hug with a smile. “Of course, Pigsy. What was he teasing you for anyway?”_

_“Uhhh, nothin’! He was just being his annoying self.”_

_“Alright, I won’t ask if you don’t want to talk about it.”_

_“Thanks again master.”_

_“It’s no trouble. Now come help me with something.” He gestured for Pigsy to follow. Pigsy went to the right of him, smiling as his master spoke._

* * *

“Uhhh, Pigsy?” MK questioned. Pigsy had had his eyes shut for the last few minutes. “Pigsy!” MK poked him.

“Hm?” Pigsy’s eyes snapped open. “What, kid?” He crossed his arms.

“You haven’t told me what Tripitaka was like, you just stood there with your eyes closed. I've been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes,” MK whined.

“Oh yea, Tripitaka. He was nice…” Pigsy looked away.

“Nice? Just nice? That’s all you have to say? He was the great monk and you traveled with him! You just have more to say than just “nice.”

Pigsy shrugged. “Don’t know what ya want me to say, kid. He was nice, treated his disciples well, he was everything a monk should be, I guess. I told you a thing or two, now finish sweeping so I can close up the shop!”

“Fine…” MK continued sweeping. 

* * *

“Come on kid. That was the last thing, I’ll close the place.” MK eagerly nodded at Pigsy’s statement. He put the broom away and took a few steps outside the place. Pigsy followed and locked the door to the restaurant. Tang had been waiting outside, immersed in a book.

“Bye Tang! Bye Pigsy! See you guys tomorrow!” MK rushed to his apartment above the restaurant.

“Bye MK,” they said in unison. 

Tang looked up at Pigsy. “Ready to go home, Pigsy?” 

“Yep,” Pigsy said as he pocketed the key. Tang nodded and headed towards the direction of their apartment, Pigsy followed next to him.

“Took you awhile to close up, what were you doing?” 

“Kid wanted to hear a story about what traveling with Tripitaka was like.”

“So how was it? Traveling with Tripitaka, I mean.”

“It was nice I guess.”

“Just nice?” Tang titled his head with an eyebrow raised.

“Ugh, you and MK are the same. Yes, it was just nice!”

“Alright, alright.” Tang rolled his eyes. “What happened to Tripitaka anyway, it said he was appointed as a Buddha but what happened to him after that? Have you spoken to him since?”

Pigsy stopped in his tracks. “Pigsy?” Tang stopped too and frowned in concern. “Something wrong?”

Pigsy shook his head. “We kept in touch for a long time after the journey then when Wukong, that idiot, disappeared and didn’t say anything, we just stopped talking.” He started to shake. “Heh, he’s probably fine, probably still with the Buddha.” He gritted his teeth, that was a fucking lie and he knew it. Tripitaka wasn’t with the Buddha at all, he had chosen to reincarnate after Monkey disappeared, the grief of not knowing what happened to Monkey was too much to handle, surprisingly the Buddha let him do it he thinks, but it’s not like he’d tell Tang that.

“I’m sorry Pigsy.” Tang stepped towards Pigsy and hugged him, giving him a reassuring smile. They hardly hugged if Pigsy was being honest, sure they hugged when MK and Mei won the race but other than that hugging moments were rare. Heh, sometimes in those moments Pigsy could have sworn Tang’s hug and smile were just like how Tripitaka used to hug and smile at him. Damn it! Pigsy shook his head, why’d he always compare Tripitaka and Tang when he was desperate? They were nothing alike! Sure Tang knew more than just what happened in the legends like that time Monkey had a picnic at Flower Fruit mountain with the rest of the gang years after the journey ended and he threw Pigsy into the waterfall on “accident,” but that didn’t mean anything!

Pigsy shoved Tang away. “Thanks…” he reluctantly stated. Tang opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut. Pigsy staggered home with Tang staring at him in concern.

* * *

Tang opened the door to their apartment with a click. He walked inside first, Pigsy had slowed down since their little talk about Tripitaka. “Home sweet home, ey, Pigsy?” Tang nudged Pigsy as he stumbled in with Pigsy heavily fixated on the ground.

“Hm? Yea, I guess…” 

“You sure you’re alright?”

Pigsy looked up quickly with a glare. “Yes I’m fine, for the last time. Quit askin' that! I’ll be in my room!” He stomped to his room and slammed the door shut making Tang wince.

“But it’s your turn to cook dinner! Oh never mind.” He shook his head, sat down on their couch and turned on the tv.

Meanwhile Pigsy was in his room, hitting the wall with his fists and leaning up against it. The tears welled up in his eyes and his whole body began to shake. “Damn it!” He hit the wall again. “If it wasn’t for that stupid monkey, our master might not have-” His breath started to get shaky too. It had been a long time since Tripitaka chose to reincarnate and no matter how much he begged or wished, his master wasn’t coming back ever.

  
  



	2. Plagued with Thoughts and Growing Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pigsy was weird, weird about Tripitaka, weird about everything after that. Ever since he heard the name, it's like something switched inside him. He was angrier... and him refusing to get answers frustrated Tang. Did Pigsy not trust him? The whole situation was a mess really. Pigsy just want to forget and move on but MK asking about Tripitaka had made him scared, it brought up bad memories. He didn't want to think about Tripitaka, he wanted to move on so any talk of Tripitaka, he told the others to focus on the legends, after all that's what was important, right? No one but Sandy needed to know how he felt about Tripitaka, his solution was to block out the feelings and block out the memories for as long as he could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOO, new chapter! I couldn't come up with a creative enough title and summary for this chapter so that's the title and summary. Hope you enjoy!

_Beep, beep, beep_

The beeping sound rang in Pigsy’s ears, he groaned and rolled onto his left side, the carpet tickling his face. His alarm clock read 7:40, ten minutes past the usual time he woke up. He groaned again and scooted towards the bedside table with the alarm clock, wrinkling the uniform he wore yesterday further, he was about to reach the shut off button till his hand lowered and he pressed his face more into the carpet.

A knock was heard at his door. “Uh, Pigsy? Your alarm clock has been going off for a few minutes now. I’m trying to get some more sleep. You… okay?” Tang asked awkwardly.

“Yea, yea, yea. ‘M fine. Be there soon.” He made a dismissive hand gesture at the door.

“You’re usually up by this time, don’t you need to get the shop ready?”

“Shaddup. I said I’ll be there soon.”

Tang rolled his eyes. “Well some of us need more sleep so I’m coming in.” Tang opened the door and strolled in. He turned off the alarm and took a glance at Pigsy. “Why are you on the floor and still in your uniform?”

“None of your business,” Pigsy growled.

Tang sighed, “What a bad roommate you are, letting me get woken up like that.”

Pigsy lifted his head, “Shut up.”

“Hmph, rude!” Tang huffed. “You should be more like Sandy, his hospitality is great.”

“Shut up.” Pigsy repeated again. “And you’re in my room, I don’t have to be hospitable to you!” He got up slowly and shoved Tang out of his room. “Now let me get dressed!”

“Hey! I was trying to be a nice roommate!” Tang turned around to face Pigsy and took a glance at him with eyes widened.

“More like an annoyin’ one!” Pigsy slammed the door in Tang’s face. He slid down the door, his hands covering his face. “Damn it! I can’t stop thinkin’ about…” He took a deep breath. “I want to move on… but I can’t. I miss him too much. Tripitaka, my dear master, where have you gone? If it wasn’t for that stupid monkey.” He shook his head. “I need to get ready.” 

Pigsy stood up and went to the bathroom, grabbing a new uniform from his closet as he made his way there. He took another deep breath and took a glance at his reflection, his eyes were red and puffy from crying. “Wow, do I really look that horrible?” He asked himself. He switched the sink on and splashed himself in the face. “There, it should be fine.” He put on his new uniform, throwing the old one away to handle later.

He rubbed his eyes as he made his way to the dining area with Tang at their table munching on some cereal while reading over a book. “Thought you wanted some more sleep?” Pigsy brought up.

Tang’s eyes were still on his book when he said, “Changed my mind…”

“Okay…” Pigsy muttered as he sat beside Tang, grabbing some cereal for himself. They avoided eye contact and barely spoke a word to each other, their bickering usually filling any silence, this continued all the way to the noodle shop.

* * *

“Am I the only one who noticed Pigsy acting… off?” MK whispered to the rest of the gang. Pigsy’s back was turned away from the group as he was conversing with a customer on the phone. Pigsy had been acting rather weird, he was slow when it came to making his famous noodles, he didn’t yell at MK for getting distracted and not doing his job and he didn’t even bat an eye when MK gave Tang a free bowl of noodles!

“Yea, he has been acting weird all morning and muttering a lot too,” Mei whispered back.

“He hasn’t yelled at any of us,” Sandy butted in.

“I’m sure he’s fine!” The three of them stared at Tang who was glaring at his book and angrily flipping a page.

“Mr. Tang? Are you okay?” MK titled his head.

“Fine. What do I care if Pigsy is acting weird, not like I tried to make sure he was okay or anything!” He flipped another page and accidentally ripped it a little. The three blinked at him.

“Did you two have a fight or something?” 

“He just snapped at me earlier for no reason!”

“But Piggy is always like that, he’s always mad at something!” Mei pointed out.

“It was different. I found him sleeping on the floor with a uniform from yesterday still on and he woke up past his usual time.” Tang flipped another page.

“I wonder why Piggy is acting so weird.”

“Hmmmm, he started acting weird after I brought up Tripitaka yesterday…”

“Really? Cause I asked him about Tripitaka too and he didn’t seem to want to talk about him,” replied MK.

“Tripitaka…. Uhhh….” Sandy shifted his eyes away from the group. They all stared at him. 

“Oh yea! He was also your master, Sandy! What was he like?” MK leaned forward with sparkly eyes.

Sandy took a brief glimpse at Pigsy who still had the phone up to his ear. “Well Tripitaka was one of the kindest masters ever! He accepted us for who we were and tried to give us guidance! He cared so much, no matter how we were, he tried to teach us the error of our ways.” Sandy’s smile widened. “He loved us and we loved him. In fact, Pigsy was-.” A wooden spoon flew into the four’s field of vision and smacked Sandy in the face who fell over.

Tang, Mei and MK slowly shifted their attention to the one that threw the spoon with mouths agape. Pigsy arms were crossed and throbbing veins in his neck. “Whatcha talkin’ about Tripitaka for?” Pigsy growled.

The three glanced at each other while Sandy sat up and rubbed the spot where he was smacked. MK rubbed his neck and fidgeted. “Well… it’s just you started acting weird when me and Tang brought him up. I wanted to know more about him, you and Sandy never talk about him!”

“Weird? I haven’t acted weird at all!” Pigsy furrowed his brows and shook his fists. “And there’s nothing to say about him! You already know all about him from the legends! What more is there to say?”

“A lot! Like what was his favorite food, how did he act when you all were just traveling and took a break from fighting demons, how did he act with you all individually? There’s so much to know!” MK grinned widely.

“There’s nothing! All you need to know is what’s in the legends!” 

“Big Brother Bajie…” Sandy stood up and reached across the counter to place a hand on Pigsy’s shoulder. “It’s okay… you should tell them.”

“Tell us? Tell us what?” Mei frowned with her hands in her pockets. MK and Tang stared at Pigsy and Sandy with expectant looks on their faces.

Tears welled up in Pigsy’s eyes, he tried to blink the tears away before wiping them away with his arm. His voice cracked as he mumbled “No… I can’t… I can’t go through this, not again.” 

Sandy nodded and slowly took his hand off. “I understand big brother.”

Tang shook his head with furrowed eyebrows and went back to his book, MK and Mei stared at Pigsy. Pigsy cleared his throat, “Anyway, ya don’t need to know anything. So stop asking!” His nostrils flared. Mei and MK gulped and nodded. “Now MK, go do your job!”

“Well… I’m on break?” MK nervously chuckled.

“You know how I feel about breaks, kid!” Pigsy snarled. MK gulped again, grabbed the take out bags and sped out.

Pigsy clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at the three. Mei and Sandy froze while Tang’s eyes were glazing over his book. Mei spoke up first “I’m gonna go… fix my bike! Bye Piggy! Bye Sandy! Bye Tang!” Mei waved her hand quickly back and forth and skipped out.

“Uhhh, I’ll… feed my cats! Yea!” Sandy gave a small smile as he slowly backed out of the restaurant.

Pigsy facepalmed and turned to Tang. “Why didn’t you leave?”

“Why? Am I supposed to?” He silently fumed.

“No, just asking.”

“Good, I wouldn't want the amazing Bajie to be uncomfortable.” Tang rolled his eyes on the amazing part.

“What’s your problem?” Pigsy’s nostrils flared.

“Nothing.”

“Fine, not like I want to know anyway.”

Tang made an offended gasp. “Not like I want you to know either!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!” Pigsy and Tang both huffed at each other.

“I taught you one time that the truth has a way of revealing itself, apparently you didn’t learn that lesson, my disciple” he heard Tang mutter, he dropped the spoon he was holding. He spun around to face Tang.

“What… what did you say?” 

“Hm? I didn’t say anything.” 

“Yes you did!”

“No I didn’t…. Or did I?” Tang blinked for a few seconds. “Why does it feel like I blacked out?”

“You’re probably fine.” Pigsy chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. Tang stared at him before returning to his book. Pigsy silently squinted his eyes at Tang, either Tang was playing a prank on him or he actually didn’t know what he said. Pigsy shrugged it off and went back to working.

* * *

“AHHHHH” The gang screamed and fell back as Pigsy sharply turned the corner. They were chasing Red Son through the streets who had stolen a priceless jewel to power his latest machine. 

“Pigsy slow down!” Tang put his arms on top of the glove compartment, his glasses askew. 

“Shut up Tang! I know what I’m doing!” He pushed Tang back down.

“I’m just gonna…” MK pointed at one of the door’s before leaping out and using his staff to propel him to Red Son’s vehicle.

“Noodle Boy! Quit following me!” Red Son snarled, a burst of flames surrounding him.

“No way! You stole something!”

“To power my machine! Now let me go!”

“No!” MK swung at Red Son with his staff who dodged it. Red Son threw fire at him, MK barely moved out of the way.

“We got to help the kid!” Pigsy slammed his foot on the gas. The other three screeched.

“We can’t help MK if we get into a crash!” Tang yelled. 

“Big brother, slow down!” Sandy trembled.

“Yea! How are we supposed to help MK like this?” Mei asked.

“I said I know what I’m doin’!” Pigsy steered the car next to Red Son.

“Oh so the Noodle Boy’s friends want to help? Don’t make me laugh!” He threw fireballs at the side of the truck, Pigsy tried to move the vehicle out of the way. A fireball hit the truck square in the middle causing Pigsy to swerve and hit the brakes as the others yelled.

Red Son laughed. “Good luck catching up to me!” He sped up till his car was nothing more than a small dot.

MK stopped in front of the other. “Are you guys okay?”

Pigsy grumbled and rubbed his head. “We’re fine, kid. You might wanna catch up to Red Son without us.” 

MK glanced at them with a raised eyebrow before nodding and using his staff to propel himself in the air once again. Pigsy got out of the car to inspect the damage. The car wasn’t as bad as he thought, a few scorch marks, the biggest one being in the center and a couple dents. “Ugh, wonder how much this is gonna cost.” Pigsy rubbed the back of neck.

Tang swung the right door open and stomped towards Pigsy. “Your stupid truck! Is that all you care about? We almost got into an accident and all that matters is your truck!” He pushed Pigsy. Sandy and Mei had gotten out as well and stared at the two.

“Of course not! I made sure you all were okay first! And don’t push me!”

“Really? Cause it didn’t seem like it!”

“What’s your problem lately?” Pigsy shoved him back.

“I don’t have a problem! You’re the one keeping all these secrets!”

“Secrets? I’m not keepin’ any secrets, Tang!”

“Sureeee….”

“I’m not! I have no idea what you’re talkin’ about! Name one secret I’ve kept from you!”

“Let’s see...” Tang pretended to think and count. “You hid the fact that you were Zhu Bajie from us. Also for some reason, you don’t want to talk about m-Tripitaka!” Tang closed his eyes, put a hand on his forehead and rubbed his temples. “It’s like he doesn’t exist in your eyes!”

“It’s none of your business! All you need to know is what’s in the legends!”

“You keep saying that! You know not absolutely everything was recorded in those damn legends! And maybe we want to know more than what’s in there!”

“Who cares? It’s nobody’s business but mine! The past is the past!”

“Yes it is! If we’re really going by “the past is the past” then why don’t you just tell us? If that’s your mentality then it should be easy to tell us!” Tang growled.

“Uhhhh, guys?” Mei went in between them. They glanced at her.

“What, Mei?” Pigsy crossed his arms.

“You two have been fighting over nothing. Is this really such a big deal?”

“Yes, Mei. It is.” Tang crossed his arms and shifted his focus back to Pigsy. “You know what, I’m going! Don’t expect me to return to the shop or home later!” Tang scowled and stomped off.

“Bah!” Pigsy made a dismissive gesture with his arms. “Who needs him…” Pigsy started to mumble and inspected the truck more while Sandy and Mei shared looks. MK came back a few minutes later with the jewel in hand and a confused look on his face when he saw Tang gone.

* * *

A week went by since the argument and everything was tense. Pigsy kept grumbling and his temper seemed shorter, he snapped at MK for the smallest things and the three had to prevent him from making numerous customers cry. Tang was nowhere to be seen, he had avoided Pigsy completely. Anytime Pigsy was home, Tang was either holed up in his room or at his job, he stopped showing up to the noodle shop. 

“Who needs stupid Tang?” Pigsy stomped back to his apartment. “I definitely don’t need him!” He unlocked the door to the apartment and sat down on the couch, crossing his arms. He heard footsteps approach his apartment and he stared at the door intently.

The apartment door opened with a click and Tang stepped inside. Tang glanced at Pigsy and tried to make a quick stride to his room. It was the first time in forever that they had both seen each other.

“Wait!” Pigsy put his hand up and Tang glanced at him. “Uhhh, why don’t we talk?” He patted the seat beside him. Tang rolled his eyes and reluctantly sat next to him, his arms tucked in his sleeves. The two occasionally took glances at the other, mouths opening to say something but never speaking.

A few minutes went by before Tang said, “I’m sorry.”

Pigsy was taken aback. “Sorry for what?”

Tang let out a deep breath. “For snapping at you like that, it’s just, your behavior has been concerning… also you just never told me you were Zhu Bajoe, you hid that from me and you refuse to talk about Tripitaka.” Pigsy looked down in shame. “Did you not trust me with any of this?”

Pigsy jerked his head up and looked directly into Tang’s eyes. “Of course I trust you! You’re one of the few people I trust!”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s just… you read those legends. Y’know how I was… I wasn’t the best person…. I was a coward among other things.”

“I see… you weren’t all bad. You clearly changed. And Tripitaka? You refuse to talk about him.”

“It’s… complicated, Tang. I’m-I’m sorry. It’s painful, y’know? I’m sorry for not bein’ able to tell you, I’m sorry for not really makin’ sure you all were okay after I almost crashed the truck.”

“It’s fine, Pigsy. I shouldn’t have pushed and... I’m used to you driving like a maniac anyway.” Tang giggled. “And no one was hurt.”

“Maniac? I’m the best damn driver you’re ever gonna meet!”

“Sure, Pigsy!” He nudged him. Pigsy glared at him before laughing with Tang joining in. During their laughter, they had unknowingly leaned closer to each other. 

They stopped giggling and stared at each other, noticing the close proximity. Their faces turned beet red. Pigsy coughed and leaned back, “So uhhh, we’re good now?” 

Tang smiled and nodded, “We’re good.” 

“Wanna watch some tv?”

“Sure!”

Pigsy flipped to a random program and took a glimpse at Ta-Tripitaka?? A flash of light surrounded Tang’s spot or should Pigsy say Tripitaka. Tripitaka looked exactly the same as Pigsy remembered him, he was facing the tv, Pigsy gasped. 

Tripitaka laid his eyes on Pigsy and smiled. “Pigsy, what is with the gasp? Don’t recognize your old master?”

“Ma-ma-master?” Pigsy yelped. “But it’s not possible, you reincarnated! You shouldn’t be here!” He pointed at Tripitaka.

Tripitaka cupped Pigsy’s face in his hands, Pigsy’s face turned red. “You are right, I should not be here… or should I? I am right where I should be, where I want to be.”

“I- I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry it will all make sense eventually. I missed you,” he said in a soft spoken tone.

“I missed you too.” Tears started to build up.

Tripitaka wiped the tears away. “Don’t cry, my Bajie. My wonderful Bajie, I missed you so much.” He touched Pigsy’s forehead with his. Pigsy became more flushed at his master calling him wonderful and the proximity.

“How can I not cry? I haven’t seen you since…”

“I’m sorry, I should not have left you or Sandy.”

“But you did!” Pigsy snapped. “You left us! For what? You don’t think I missed that monkey too when we couldn’t find him? What’s your excuse, huh?”

“Bajie-”

“Don’t “Bajie” me! You left and now you want to return like nothing happened, return like a ghost! I-I’m tryin’ to forget about you, stop hauntin’ my thoughts and just leave!”

Tripitaka scooted away with a frown and bit his lip. “I sense you are angry with me and for good reason. I will take my leave.” He tried to cup Pigsy’s face again before pulling back. “Pigsy… I will be here if you ever need me.. just call and I will try to be there.” He gave a small smile before leaving in a blinding flash of light. Pigsy closed his eyes and then opened them seconds later.

“Pigsy?” Tang waved a hand over his face.

“What?” Pigsy grumbled.

“You’ve been staring at me for the last few minutes. Something wrong?”

Pigsy blinked and rubbed his eyes. Was that whole thing a hallucination? “No… let’s just watch the tv.” Tang raised an eyebrow at him before shifting his focus to the screen and leaning his head on Pigsy’s shoulder who stiffened. That’s all it was, a hallucination… 

* * *

Pigsy closed the door behind him, trash bag in hand. His relationship with Tang had been repaired, much to the other three’s relief. The only problem was Tripitaka. He tried to shake that image of Tripitaka out of his mind but he couldn’t. 

Why did his master appear in a flash of light? Why now? Where did Tang go during the whole thing? Pigsy had so many questions but no answers. He threw the bag away and rubbed his chin. His master said to call him if he needed him, but he didn’t want to see Tripitaka so soon. It was like staring at a ghost, which Tripitaka probably was, Pigsy shivered thinking about it. Maybe it was a hallucination or a demon pulling a prank?

As he was contemplating, a cloud moved in front of the sun but there had been no clouds all day! Pigsy glanced up and squinted, a familiar shadow appeared. Pigsy took a step back. “What are you doing here?” Pigsy growled.

The Monkey King did a fancy flip off his cloud and landed in front of Pigsy, a smile on his face. “Hey Pigsy. It’s been awhile.”

"I said, what are you doing here?" He growled again.

Wukong took a step forward and narrowed his eyes. “MK said he was worried about you. We need to talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna put a scene with MK telling Wukong about Pigsy but it would have ruined the surprise and was boring.


	3. His Master's Favorite and Busting In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pigsy's brother appeared right in front of his eyes and he was pissed. He waited all this time to reappear in front of him, to let him know he was okay and the only reason he came was cause of MK? Did he not care enough to come back for his brothers? He may not be as strong or as clever as Wukong but he was determined to give his master's favorite a piece of mind. He had too much to say and damn right, he was going to say it. After all the pain Wukong caused, he deserved it, at least Pigsy thought he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry I haven't posted in a bit, I got lazy then some writer's block. I just want to thank everyone for the reads, kudos and comments. I did not expect this story to get any attention since it was me combining various ideas from the fandom to make this weird idea. So thank you again! Hope you enjoy!

Pigsy’s eyes scanned every part of the Monkey King. This was his older brother, the brother he hadn’t seen in years and that’s all he had to say to him. He clenched his jaw as he said, “Talk? Is this the only thing you have to say to me? And whatever the kid told you, I’m fine. No need for the “great” Monkey King to make such a pointless trip.” His nose crinkled. 

The Monkey King crossed his arms and sighed. “He said you started acting weird when our old master was brought up, said you had a bad fight with Tang, I think his name was? I told him it was nothing to worry about, after all you’ve always been a grump.” His mouth twitched upward but retained a serious look. He continued “Even after I said that, the kid kept begging so I decided to show up.” Pigsy’s mouth widened a little. Did he hate the idea of visiting Pigsy so much that MK had to force him to show up? 

Pigsy shook it off, his blood boiled. “You only came cause MK told you to?”

“Of course. Why else would I have-” Pigsy grabbed Wukong by his clothes and shoved him against a wall. The Monkey King gasped out of surprise and his eyes widened.

Pigsy slammed his fist into the wall beside where he was pinning Wukong as tears pricked his eyes. Wukong simply blinked at him. Pigsy exclaimed “Are you kiddin’ me? The only reason you came was cause of MK!” His fist was about to collide with the Monkey King’s face when Wukong caught the fist with his hand. Wukong hissed at him and kicked him in the stomach causing Pigsy to stumble back, clutching his stomach.

Wukong roared, “What is your problem? I came to check on you!”

Pigsy removed the arm from his stomach. “Check on me? Check on me! After all this time!” Pigsy rushed forward to punch Wukong again who swiftly dodged and appeared behind him. He hit the center of Pigsy’s back using only a little bit of his strength, Pigsy fell on all fours.

He turned to Wukong and said “You’re lucky I don’t have my rake on hand.” He put his hand on the ground to push himself up.

Wukong rolled his eyes. “Oh please, you couldn’t beat me even if you had that thing, just like the first time we met. You’re lucky I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“Well you’re lucky I’m not tryin’ to hurt you! After all this, you finally come back! You selfish-“

“I retired!” Wukong interrupted. “I had no reason to come back!”

“No reason to come back? No reason to come back! You had every reason to come back! What about us?” He was seething with rage. “We thought somethin’ happened to you! Do you know how scared we were?”

Wukong fidgeted, he opened his mouth to say “Pigsy, I-.”

“Of course you don’t! You’re a selfish jerk! Just like you were at the start of the journey, only lookin’ out for yourself! You haven’t changed a bit!” He accused.

“I’m only looking out for myself? If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been training MK, training my successor to battle evil isn't looking out for myself, now is it? What about you? You’re still the same self-centered pig you were at the beginning! Stop blaming me!”

“How am I not supposed to blame you? You’re the reason our family fell apart! You disappeared on us and we didn’t know if you were okay! You never said a damn word! And the only reason you bothered to come back was cause of MK? What about me? What about Sandy, the dragon horse or Tripi-.” His hands shakily gripped the Monkey King’s clothes again, he was down his knees, tears streaming down his face. “You’re the reason he’s gone!”

Wukong froze and stared at him with widened eyes. “What- what do you mean? Gone? What happened to our master?”

Pigsy let out a shaky breath and explained, “After you disappeared, we tried so badly to find you…”

* * *

_Weeks after Wukong’s fight with DBK_

_Word of Wukong’s disappearance had spread rapidly especially when his staff was found on the mountain that trapped the Demon Bull King. This left many gods in shock, he loved that staff, he never went without it. The Jade Emperor, paranoid and receiving increasing concerns about the monkey’s disappearance, sent people out to find him. Erlang was even asked to use his magical third eye to look all over China but nothing. Theories started circulating about what might have happened and while there was no conclusive evidence on any of these theories, one thing was for certain, the Monkey King was gone. Pigsy, Sandy and Tripitaka became increasingly worried at their friend’s disappearance._

_**..............................................................**_

_Pigsy and Sandy arrived in Heaven wielding both their weapons. They were in similar attire to the ones they had on during the journey. They scanned the area with frowns. A buddha rushed out sobbing and put his arms around Pigsy’s neck. Pigsy made a small groan and wrapped his arms around the figure. “Did you find him?” The buddha that rushed them asked._

_Pigsy and Sandy exchanged looks. “No,” Pigsy replied softly. “We looked everywhere we thought he might be. I’m sorry master.”_

_Sandy placed a hand on Tripitaka’s shoulder. “He’s nowhere to be seen….”_

_“Not even in his home…” Tripitaka whimpered._

_“No, master. After Erlang checked his home, we double checked to see if there were any clues but we couldn’t find anything… We even asked his subjects, they didn’t know anything and we interrogated those guys good,” Sandy spoke, cracking his knuckles a little._

_Tripitaka buried his face into Pigsy’s shoulder, his body slumped. Pigsy wrapped his arms around him tighter and nuzzled him. “Where could that stupid monkey be?” Pigsy asked._

_“I don’t know. Hopefully our older brother hasn’t gotten into any trouble.”_

_“Knowin’ him, he’s always gonna cause trouble. Probably in some right now.” Pigsy received a punch to his back. He glared at Sandy who shook his head in disapproval. “What? It’s true. Y’know how he is.”_

_“Pigsy...” Sandy warned._

_“What? How do we know he ain’t causin’ trouble right now? How do we know if somethin’ really happened? You never know with him.”_

_Tripitaka stepped back, tears streaming down his face as he shouted, “Do not talk about your older brother that way, Pigsy! Monkey has changed! He would never abandon his home or us! Not after everything!”_

_“Master, he’s gone… we have to consider every possible option, no matter how unlikely.” Pigsy frowned. “Sorry to have to ruin the image of your favorite,” he muttered and rolled his eyes._

_“What was that?” Tripitaka growled._

_“I said I’m sorry I have to ruin the image of your favorite!” Pigsy yelled and balled his fists. “He’s not as perfect as you think! I know how much you “love” him. You’ve always cared more than you have us!” He gestured between him and Sandy._

_Tripitaka gasped. “Of course, I love him. I love all of you. I do not have favorites, you are all equally amazing. I know he is not perfect. I never said he was. One thing is for sure, he would never abandon us!”_

_“Oh yea, right. It is so obvious you care about him more. If I went missing, I know you wouldn’t give a damn, same with Sandy or maybe you would care if Sandy went missing too. All I know is you wouldn’t care if I were to vanish like that!”_

_“What? Bajie, of course I would care if something happened to you. I would care if anything happened to any of you.” Tripitaka gave him a hurt expression._

_“Sure…” he huffed and turned away._

_“It is true!”_

_“Whatever you say, master…”_

_“Bajie-” Tripitaka was caught off guard by Sandy’s cough, Tripitaka and Pigsy focused their attention on him._

_“Don’t worry, master. At least I know you love us all equally and Pigsy knows it too. He’s just trying to cope with Monkey’s disappearance. Right, brother Bajie?” He hit Pigsy in the shoulder._

_Pigsy snarled and went “Yes… that’s it. Sorry master I know you love us.” He clenched his jaw. “I shouldn’t have implied our big brother would have abandoned us. I was just sayin’ he’s probably fine. If anythin’ made him go into hidin’ then it’s probably bad and in any case, he can handle it. Any trouble, he can handle it.”_

_Sandy made a humming noise. “Big brother Bajie might be right…” Pigsy shot him a small smirk and he rolled his eyes in response. “If big brother Wukong was in trouble then he could handle it, he might come back when he’s ready.”_

_Tripitaka wiped the tears with his sleeves. “You are both right… but I can not shake this feeling that something bad might have happened to him.” He turned to Pigsy. “I am sorry Wuneng. I should not have snapped at you. I love you all equally, remember that. You all have a special place in my heart.”_

_“It’s okay, master. I understand. I- We love you too.” Tripitaka smiled and enveloped Pigsy into a hug. Pigsy wrapped his arms around him. “Don’t worry, I understand,” He repeated. “I’m worried about ‘im too.”_

_Tripitaka cupped Pigsy’s face who blushed. “You are so understanding when need be, Bajie. It is truly an admirable quality.”_

_“It’s not a big deal, master. You do the same with us.” Pigsy wiped the rest of Tripitaka’s tears with Tripitaka smiling shyly._

_“Group hug!” Sandy declared and picked up both of them, squeezing both of them. Pigsy shouted at him to let go, Tripitaka was in deep thought._

_Pigsy stared at Tripitaka and gave a small smile. “He’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”_

_“I hope so, Pigsy.” He tried to smile back but ended up frowning. Pigsy looked at him in sorrow._

* * *

_Several years after the Monkey King’s disappearance_

_Pigsy had just picked up some flowers, whistling. He was about to make his way up to Heaven to see his master. He narrowed his eyes and put his arms down, he squeezed the stems of the flowers in his hands, slightly crushing them._

_His master hadn’t been acting like himself since Wukong disappeared. He was withdrawn, closed off and neglected his duties. Everytime he had gone to see his master, Tripitaka usually refused to leave his room and on the rare occasion he went out, he didn’t want to smile and looked like he had been constantly crying. When the monkey originally vanished and his master was like this, he would visit every day after doing his job as “Cleaner of the Heavenly Altar.” Eventually it came to the point where his visits were less frequent since his master refused to budge on anything. Sandy tried to do the same but it was much less than what Pigsy did. Sandy was a different story since he was constantly trying to pick fights in the mortal realm to cope with Wukong gone._

_Pigsy arrived in Heaven and immediately made his way to Tripitaka’s room, his last visit to his master had been seven months ago. He tried to send his master letters when he didn’t want to leave his room and when he didn’t want Pigsy to enter. While he got letters back, the letters were in messy scrawl compared to his master’s normal, fancy handwriting and contained noticeable tear stains._

_He reached Tripitaka’s room and called out, “Master! It’s me, Pigsy. I got some flowers for you!”_

_He waited for a few minutes before repeating, “Master? Are you there?” Weird… even when his master didn’t want to go out, he always made it a point to answer. Pigsy contemplated entering before nodding to himself and opening Tripitaka’s room._

_He examined the room. There was a small table in the center with a piece of parchment laying in the center. He approached the table and picked up the parchment._

_The parchment read:_

_“Dear Zhu Bajie, Sha Wujing and Yu Long,_

_I am so sorry. I am so sorry for what you are about to read. Ever since Wukong left I have not been myself as I am sure you have noticed. I miss him so much, too much. I have neglected my duties as a result. We were so close and his disappearance broke my heart. With every passing moment, his memory becomes too painful and I can not deal with it any longer. I have decided that the best thing to do is reincarnate. I know it is a selfish thing to do, I know it is an easy way out but I just want to forget. I want to forget it all, I know how selfish this sounds. I got approval to do this from someone, they know I need to forget but I still feel so bad yet I have to go through with it. As a goodbye I will leave some parting words._

_Wujing, despite your need to pick fights and anger, you have genuinely shown progress throughout the journey. You tried to repent and while you still have your anger issues, you were always trying to help your big brothers and caused the least amount of problems. I could always see you trying to hold back. There is so much kindness in you and I am so happy I could guide you throughout the journey. I appreciate you being the one to offer to help the most. I know you can get past anything._

_Yu Long, even though you rarely spoke and preferred to stay in your horse form, I still appreciate you nonetheless. You show tremendous potential. I thank you for trying to save us that one time when I kicked Wukong out of the group on accident. You helped so much when it came to traveling. I do not get how you were never tired when I was on your back. I appreciate you._

_Bajie, thank you so much for everything. You tried to cheer me up after Wukong vanished. Anytime you visited, I felt a little better. I know it did not seem like it. I am so proud of you. Even though it appears you might not have changed as much as the others I think you have. I will miss you so deeply. You always tried to cook for me and make me happy despite how much I refused to see you. Throughout the journey despite your laziness and tendency to run away, you have a good heart and I wish you the best._

_I love you all and again, I am so sorry. It has become too painful for me to stay but one day, I hope we can all be reunited and together as a family. I know I will lose my memories of everything of Wukong, of our journey and of all of you but the memories I use to cherish are too painful. Even then when all is good and well, my deepest wish to see all of us together. I know how selfish this is and I do not expect you to forgive me especially since I did not bother to talk to any of you about this. Although I do hope for your forgiveness, I love you three and it was an honor to go on the journey with you. Farewell._

_Love,_

_Tripitaka.”_

_As his eyes glazed over the parchment, his eyes widened and he completely crushed the flowers he was holding. He dropped to his knees and let the parchment softly float to the ground. He buried his face in his hands, sobbing and screaming until he attracted the attention of a good portion of the palace. It hurt so much, his master was gone. One thought lingered in his mind, “this was the monkey’s fault.”_

* * *

“You are the reason I lost him! I was the one who had to pick up the pieces of your little vanishin’ act! Do y’know how hard it was? Obviously not! You were too busy layin’ around on your stupid mountain! You- you are the reason our family is so broken!” He yanked on the monkey’s clothes and stared up at him with a scowl and furrowed brows as tears fell. He heard sniffles and saw droplets come from the monkey’s eyes.

“Our master,” Wukong sniffled. “He would never do that! He’s dedicated to his responsibilities as a Buddha. He would never choose to do that!”

“Yes, he did! And y’know why? Cause you were always his favorite! He left us for you! He cared more about you than us! He- he never thought about what would happen if he left. He knew it was selfish and did it anyway. All he thought about was you! I- I never got to tell him how I felt. All because you decided to leave us without a care...” A dark look flashed across Pigsy’s face.

“I didn- I didn’t think-”

“You never do! You never think about anyone but yourself!” Pigsy bellowed. “There is so much Sandy and I had to deal with, all cause of you.”

“Pigsy,” The Monkey King took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Save it! I don’t want to hear it. It’s all your fault… it’s all the Buddha’s fault too…”

“The Buddha? What about him?”

“In the letter, it mentioned that he got approval to do this… I assume the Buddha gave it to him.”

Wukong wiped the tears away and a flash of anger went across his face. He growled, “He just let him do it? Doesn’t sound like him… maybe we should ask.”

“What? We are not goin’ up to the Buddha and demandin’ answers. I haven’t been there in years, I am not goin’ back and not with you.”

“We aren’t demanding answers, Pigsy.” Wukong made a “tch” noise and continued, “I promise we will ask peacefully or at least try…”

“That doesn’t change anythin’! I said I’m not goin’ back there and not with you!"

“Yes you are! This is the chance to find out what happened to our master. Don’t you want to know? We could try and use this to find him.”

Pigsy contemplated this. He stared at Monkey who nodded. His face scrunched up, letting go of the monkey’s clothes and standing. He sighed and said, “Fine. I’m still mad at you but if this is a chance to finally find him then I’ll do it.”

“Yes! This will be like old times! Us working together, right brother Bajie?” Wukong smiled and held his hand out to Pigsy.

“Yea, sure. This is just to find our master.” Pigsy hesitantly took the monkey’s hand and shook it.

“Alright, let’s go!”

“How are we-” He was cut off when Wukong took him by his attire. Wukong jumped on his cloud and floated off, keeping a firm grip on Pigsy with Pigsy screaming.

* * *

Wukong floated to Heaven and dropped Pigsy slightly above the clouds on Heaven. The monkey king burst out laughing while Pigsy was trying to catch his breath.

“Your screams are so hilarious,” He said cackling.

“You couldn’t have let me on your cloud too? You idiot.” He growled.

“Nope,” the king smirked.

“I hate you.”

“Awww, love you too, younger brother,” The monkey king teased. “Now come on.” He gestured for Pigsy to follow. While it looked like he got over the news of his master’s disappearance quickly, his shoulders slumped and he shook occasionally. 

The pig cleaned off any potential dust on his clothes and followed. Some deities whispered as they saw the two. The deities stared at both with wide eyes. The Monkey King smirked and stated, “Wow, been a long time since I’ve seen this place. I remember messing with it like it was yesterday.” He wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes.

Pigsy crossed his arm and grumbled, “Try not to get us in trouble.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve changed. I just want to talk to the Buddha a little.” He cracked his fists with Pigsy scoffing.

“I am not kiddin’.” He pointed a finger at Wukong. “Do **not** get us in trouble.”

Wukong swatted his hand away. “I told you, it will be fine. You know I’ve changed.”

“Do I?”

The monkey rolled his eyes and kept walking. He spotted a man decked out in green and surrounded by a faint green light holding paperwork. He lifted one eyebrow and quietly approached the green man with Pigsy facepalming. The king tapped the green man on the shoulder, the guy turned sharply as Wukong softly said, “Boo!” The man screeched and Wukong rolled the floor laughing.

“You!” The man gestured at the monkey.

Sun Wukong got up, biting back the rest of his laughter. “Hello Jade Emperor. It’s been awhile. How have you been?”

The Jade Emperor trembled and slightly crunched the papers in his hands. “We heard you were alive and you have a successor now...”

“Yes I do, but don’t worry, I did make my peace with this place and that hasn’t changed. I’m training the kid to beat DBK, but I think you know all about that.” 

The Jade Emperor let out a sigh of relief. Pigsy stepped forward and bowed, “I apologize for my big brother scaring you.”

“What are you doing?” The king whispered.

“One of us has to be polite,” he muttered.

“I am polite.”

“Scarin’ him isn’t polite, you idiot.”

The Emperor cleared his throat, “It is fine. I am… glad you are alive. What can I do for you two?”

Pigsy settled himself upright, the Monkey King declared, “We need to have a little chat with the Buddha.” He bared his teeth.

The Jade Emperor gulped. “Why do you need to see him?”

“I recently learned of what happened to our master, we need to talk with the Buddha. We need to find out what happened.”

“He is not here at the moment plus I am the one you should talk to, not him,” A soft female voice said. Wukong swung around and saw Guanyin on her lotus platform, he bowed and pulled Pigsy down to bow too, Pigsy yelped.

“Guanyin, how are you?” Monkey asked.

“Monkey,” she smiled. “I am good. It is nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.”

Guanyin glanced at the Jade Emperor and nodded, “I can handle this.” The Jade Emperor nodded back and promptly ran away.

“Tch, coward.”

“Sun…” Guanyin warned.

“What? I’m just saying the truth.” He pulled him and the pig up suddenly. His brother elbowed him.

“You have come here because of your master, yes?”

“Yes, we need to know what happened. What do you mean we need to talk to you instead?” 

“I am the one who allowed your master to reincarnate. I had to convince the Buddha that letting Tripitaka reincarnate was the most compassionate act.” Pigsy placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder in an attempt to hold him back. The monkey gritted his teeth but stayed perfectly still.

“Why?” he inquired.

“As I said, it was the most compassionate act. He was miserable,” she expressed.

The pig pushed his brother back a few and mused, “Merciful Guanyin, I do not mean to question you but was that really the best course of action?”

Guanyin replied, “Yes, your poor master sobbed day in and day out. He would have continued to neglect his duties. He was lost without one of his precious disciples.” The Monkey King stared at the ground as the compassionate Guanyin continued, “I felt it was the best thing to do. It was an act of mercy but your master’s reborn spirit is out there, waiting for you to find him.”

“How? I tried for years to find him but I never could. How do we find him?” The pig begged.

“You could not find him then but you will be able to find him now. His reborn spirit is extremely close to one of you and might have tried to reach out.”

Pigsy gasped with Sun Wukong and Guanyin staring. “He appeared in front of me just the other day, does that mean he’s close to me?”

“Yes, yes it does. He will attempt to reach out more but his reincarnation will not know about this. In time, his new incarnation will remember more and more while his spirit continues to try and reach out to you.”

“How soon will it take his reincarnation to remember completely?” Sun Wukong probed. 

“Maybe weeks, maybe months,” she explained.

“Then I guess we have to see what happens…” He lifted his chin while facing Pigsy. The pig nodded, balling his fists. “Thank you Guanyin.” He bowed again and Pigsy joined him.

“We should go, I have a noodle shop to run.”

“Yea, at least we know how to look for our master. I can have some of your famous noodles when we go back.”

“As long as you pay…” They turned to leave.

Guanyin put her hand up to stop them. “Before you leave, Wuneng, I have something for you.” She teleported a letter in and handed it to him.

He took the envelope in his hands. “What is this?”

“Your master left a letter behind for you and only you. He asked me to keep it until the time was right.”

“Thank you.” He turned the envelope around and saw the words ‘For Bajie’ on it. He tore the envelope open and unfolded it. The letter read ‘Dear Bajie, I have so much to say to you.’ He put the note back in the envelope and shook. He did not want to read the rest of it, not now. “Thank you again.” He bowed for a final time and took off quickly. His brother shrug and bowed as well before going after him. The merciful Guanyin waved goodbye to them.

Sun Wukong summoned his cloud, placed his brother on the cloud properly as the pig’s eyes glazed over the ripped off envelope, his lip quivering. The monkey frowned at his brother, he made the cloud float up more and then they were off.


	4. Small reverse au idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little idea that won’t leave my head

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Hope you had a safe and fantastic holiday!

Hey! I’m working on the next chapter, I planned a lot for the ones after that but this idea won’t leave my mind. So what if there was a small reverse au with Tang still being Tripitaka but actually chose not to reincarnate. Instead Pigsy is the one to reincarnate because he felt inadequate since he wasn’t his master’s “favorite” and that his efforts to help Tripitaka get over Monkey’s disappearance were all for nothing so he chose to leave it all behind and reincarnate to stop thinking about his master’s sadness and actually be happy. Tang/Tripitaka instead would eventually try to move past two of his disciples’ disappearances and switch identities every now and then he decided to use his original name, Tang for his newest identity. He met reincarnated Pigsy somehow and tries to not get him confused with his Pigsy. He likes this Pigsy because he somewhat reminds him of Bajie and is fun to talk and mess with. He constantly reminds himself that them both being Pigsy is a coincidence and tries not to fall for reincarnated Pigsy since he’s so similar to his Pigsy.

A few things would change from the main fic such as Tang and Pigsy not being roommates most likely. Since I think Tang living with someone that reminds him so much of Bajie would cause him a bunch of heartache but he still loves hanging out with Pigsy. Pigsy probably wouldn’t leave another letter behind like Tang and more a simple and blunt goodbye message. I imagine this would take a lot on Sandy since he practically lost two brothers, he would still be the same but I would imagine Pigsy reincarnated around the time Sandy was still grieving and using his anger to get away from the grief. He met Pigsy who reminded him of his brother so he hanged out with a lot and they enjoyed time together, it was basically like his brother never left him even though he did. Sandy also slips up and accidentally calls him brother sometimes which Pigsy would probably react with shock or something.

I would think that when Tang and Sandy stayed in the boat at the beginning that Tang wanted to make sure that this was the Sandy he knew and talk to him. I imagine they kept in contact for a few years after Pigsy’s disappearance but eventually grew apart when Sandy’s anger got too much and Tang was too broken to do anything about it. I have a lot of ideas for this and I question if I should make it’s own thing or a bonus chapter. So here’s my idea and stay safe everyone!


	5. Chapter 4: Three Reunited and “Lying” Monkeys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pigsy and Wukong made their way back to Pigsy's shop. The letter stood in Pigsy's mind but he wasn't going to open it up anytime soon. It was painful to attempt to read the letter. They had to talk to Wujing, that was more important. Hopefully they could come up with a suitable plan to find their master. Deep down, Pigsy didn't want to work with Wukong, not after so long, not after he left them. He made their master leave them because his master was so "in love" with the monkey. The pig knew he never had a chance in the first place. He hated Wukong for everything he had done. They didn't need him, they hadn't needed him in a long time. Besides Sandy and him could find their master on his own. Couldn't they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Sorry the latest chapter took too long! If you haven't noticed I made another fic called "His Lost Disciple," which is like a reverse au where Pigsy reincarnated instead of Tripitaka so feel free to check that out. Hope you enjoy! Thank you to all that have read this so far! Stay safe!

The two arrived back in the alleyway with the garbage dumpster. Pigsy hopped off the cloud, eyes focused on the letter. The monkey hopped off it as well and put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. The pig jumped, glared at his older brother and took his hand off. He put the letter under his chef’s hat and opened the door, he stood in the doorway as he contemplated.

“So… you going to invite me in?” Wukong asked. “We need a plan on how to find our master.”

Pigsy snapped out of his thoughts and replied, “Yea, sure. Come in.” He lazily gestured to the door.

The monkey rolled his eyes. “Now I can have some of your famous noodles again.”

“Again? You’ve had my noodles before?”

He raised his arm to the sky. “Yea, I’ve had “the world’s longest noodles” before! I order it when I can, you’ve made something of yourself since leaving Heaven. I’m proud of you.” He gave Pigsy a proud smile.

“Tch, thanks I guess…” He was surprised his brother ordered food from him at all. “After you.”

“Thanks.” The monkey king stepped inside the shop and looked around with Pigsy following behind. “I’ve never been inside this place before. You got a nice set up, bro.”

“Thanks…” He went behind the counter and the monkey flopped on a stool. The pig quickly made his famous noodles and slid the bowl to his brother. The monkey king thanked him again and gobbled some of the noodles up while the pig’s nose crinkled.

Pigsy looked at his phone to see what take out orders and any in person orders he needed to fulfill and got to work, occasionally passing his brother another bowl of noodles. A few minutes passed between them when the group bust in with MK wielding the staff. Pigsy and Monkey stared at the group. The monkey was midchew, noodles hanging from his mouth.

“Pigsy!” MK exclaimed. “You were gone for an hour! Didn’t you just go out to take the trash? Where were you?”

“I was gone for an hour?” The pig questioned. “Felt shorter than that. I’m fine, kid. I was talkin’ with a certain someone.” He pointed to the monkey king.

“Monkey King! What are you doing here?” He stepped towards the king, getting in his face. 

The king slurped up the noodles, put the bowl aside and responded, “Hey kid! I wanted to talk to your boss here. I checked on him like you asked.” The pig scowled at him.

“Thank you! Where did you two go?”

“Just… a place to talk privately, get some answers. Right, Pigsy?” He nudged the pig.

“Yea… right.”

“Big brother Wukong?” A gasp came from Sandy, tears appeared in his eyes.

Wukong leapt from the stool and beamed. “Hi little brother Wujing.” He opened his arms. Sandy sobbed and lifted his brother up, squeezing him tight. His youngest brother’s strong grip didn’t faze him and he continued to smile. 

“I missed you!” Sandy cried.

“I missed you too! How have you been?” Tears threatened to slip from the sage’s eyes.

“Great! I learned to control my anger! I’ve been doing yoga and all sorts of stuff. I even saw a therapist! I am much better at controlling it,” he commented.

“Really? I am so proud of you!” 

Sandy squeezed him tighter after hearing those words and the monkey hugged back. They turned their attention towards Pigsy who was still behind the counter. The pig scowled, “I’m fine.”

The youngest looked at his oldest brother. “Don’t worry about him. You know how he is,” he reassured. Sandy nodded and put his brother down gently with a big smile on his face.

“I missed you a lot, older brother. I- I thought…” he fiddled with his fingers. “...Thought you di- forgot about us.”

The monkey king bit his lip and swallowed. “Of course not! I could never forget about you guys!” He nervously chuckled then frowned. “I- I’m sorry I left you without saying something. I really am. No words can express how bad I feel.” He stared up at Sandy with an apologetic look.

“It’s okay, big brother. I know you had your reasons.” The monkey opened his mouth to thank Sandy when he was cut off by a cough. The source of the cough, he observed, came from Tang with Mei standing beside him waving. The king temporarily focused his attention back to his youngest brother.

“We can talk more about this later.” His youngest brother nodded and grinned. He shifted his attention back to Tang and Mei. “So your MK and my brothers’ friends? I’ve heard a lot about you. Hopefully Bajie has been nice to you,” he joked.

Pigsy shouted, “What? Why me? I’m one of the nicest people they know!”

Everyone in the room laughed with Pigsy giving each of them a pissed off look. Mei approached Wukong and went, “You’re funny! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Mei! Descendant of the Dragon of the West Sea!” She took his hand and eagerly shook it.

“Bai Longma’s descendant? Nice to finally meet you, Mei.” He returned the hand shake. She was just as MK described, energetic and polite. 

“So what’s the great sage doing here? I mean you haven’t been here in forever!” She pointed out. 

“I decided to see what changed and see my brothers again. Have a nice family reunion.” He decided to answer.

“If only that were true…” He heard Pigsy mutter.

Wukong paid him no mind and went to greet Tang. Tang, that name reminded him of his master but it was probably a coincidence. From what MK told him, Tang was the one sharing all those stories and the smart one. Tang gave off a weird feeling, he noticed, it wasn’t bad, just weird, immensely weird. Was Tang a demon in disguise? It’s not like he could get him without the others noticing and getting upset. Eh, he was probably being paranoid but that’s what happens when you spent a lot of time protecting idiots from demons in disguise. He reached a hand out to Tang. “I’m-”

Tang cut him off by exclaiming, “The Monkey King! Yes I know! I am a huge fan of your stories! I’ve read a lot about them! You know I’m probably the reason why MK got interested in your stories.” He bragged. “I have so many questions!”

The Monkey King stared at him, Tang was sure excitable, at least he had another fan besides MK. “Uhhh, fire away?” 

“Okay so what was it like traveling with Sandy and Pigsy personally not just what’s shown in the stories? What’s your favorite color? What demon did you find the most difficult? I notice there are situations where certain powers are required but you don’t end up using the powers you need, why is that?” Tang asked without pausing to take a breath.

Wukong blinked. “In Sandy’s case, it was awesome but in Pigsy’s case, it was annoying…” he gestured his head towards Pigsy who rolled his eyes. “I like red or gold. And no demon was too difficult for me! And I think in the heat of the moment, I just forgot about certain abilities.” He shrugged.

“Wow!” Tang looked at the Monkey King in awe. 

Pigsy could feel his anger building. He stepped towards Wukong and pulled him away from Tang. Why was he so angry all of a sudden? Probably because Wukong was here, stealing the spotlight like he always does. “Alright, that’s enough questions! Sandy, we need talk to you about somethin’.”

Sandy titled his head. “What is it, big brothers?”

Wukong replied, “It’s something important…”

“Okay…”

Pigsy pushed them towards the back of the noodle shop. “You three stay here! We need to talk about important matters.”

“But Pigsy-” MK started to complain.

“No buts! I got a couple dozen orders for ya to deliver. Hop to it!” He managed to push Sandy and Wukong to the storage room and made sure they were out of earshot and sight. “Okay, we’re in the clear.”

“Clear? Clear for what?” Sandy questioned.

Pigsy and Wukong glanced at each other and began explaining. As they told Sandy what was going on, his face morphed to a mix of shock and happiness. When they finished, Sandy exclaimed “S-so we have a chance to find our master?” Tears were falling from his eyes.

Wukong gave a determined grin. “Yes, we do. We have a chance to find him again! All three of us will find our master!” At that proclamation, Sandy wrapped his oldest brother into a large hug, swinging him side to side. Wukong and Sandy laughed.

Pigsy scowled at the sight, he crossed his arms. “Sandy and I will find **our** master.”

The two stopped laughing and stared at him, Wukong still being hugged by Sandy. “What? I thought we were going to find our master together.” Wukong asked. He gestured for Sandy to put him down with Sandy complying immediately.

“Oh please, we don’t need you! We haven’t needed you in centuries! We can find our master by ourselves!”

Wukong snarled and he balled his fists. “What?! I’m the reason we know where to look now! If I hadn’t flown us to Heaven to get answers then you would still be wondering where our master vanished to!”

The pig squinted his eyes at the monkey, he was burning with hatred. “And who’s fault is it that he vanished in the first place, jackass?” The monkey’s mouth went slightly agape but maintained his stance. He was about to speak when Pigsy stopped him. “We lost him cause of you! We thought you fuckin’ died! Then turns out you’ve been layin’ on your mountain the entire time while we worried about you! Next we hear of ya, ya choose MK to do your dirty work!” The pig shouted as he threw his arm back.

“Died?” The monkey let out a bitter laugh. “You thought I died? I’m the great sage! After all we went through, you think I would have kicked the bucket by now! Me die? Never gonna happen! And I think MK has been doing just fine as my successor! I’m not sending him to do my dirty work, the kid needs to learn!”

Pigsy scowled again and brought up his fist, his brows furrowed. “He’s done a better job than you ever did… and don’t fuckin’ laugh. I can’t believe I ever worried about ya in the first place. I can’t believe master ever worried about ya in the first place!”

Sandy went in the middle of them and placed a hand on both their shoulders. He looked at Pigsy. “Pigsy… he’s our older brother, we just got him back…”

The pig glared at Sandy and took his hand off. “He’s not my older brother,” he declared as he looked directly into Wukong’s eyes. “Not even sure I had an older brother to begin with.”

That declaration made the monkey king freeze. Wukong’s shoulders slumped as he reached a hand towards Pigsy. A frown appeared on the monkey king’s face along with eyes widened and tears that threatened to fall. “Pig- Pigsy, I- I’m sorry…”

Pigsy gave him a dismissive hand gesture. “Save it and shaddup! Ya think just cause ya show up to help search for our master that you can suddenly be part of the family again? No way!” He shoved the monkey king against a wall (minding the dozen boxes that were laying around) and this time the monkey king let it happen without a word. Sandy was the only one protesting. “We lost him cause of ya! If ya haven’t forgotten. He wouldn’t be lost to us in the first place if ya didn’t do your little vanishin’ act! He cared about ya more than he did us! More than he did me… he left because you were his favorite and he couldn’t deal with it...” Zhu Bajie closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I never had a chance! He loved you and not me!” He opened his eyes as he pushed Wukong against the wall more.

Wukong stared at him shocked, tilting his head slightly to the right. “You think he was in love with me? You think he loved me more than you?”

“I don’t think, I know! It was so obvious! You were his protector! I was just some coward that Guanyin forced him to help!” He fumed.

The Monkey King opened his mouth then closed it before opening it again. “Pigsy… he- he loved you. He loved you so much. More than me, more than Sandy, more than anyone. He was in love with you, not me. We were only friends, we had no feelings for each other whatsoever. You were his favorite, he wanted you and only you,” he stated in an almost whispered tone.

Pigsy growled and grabbed the Monkey King by his clothes, he pulled the monkey away from the wall before slamming him into it again. “Now I know you’re lyin’!”

Wukong winced. “I'm not… just listen…”

* * *

_The pilgrims had stopped in the middle of a forest to rest for the night. A small breeze picked up around the area, the trees rustled a bit and petals floated away from their flowers into the air and into a small body of water. Stars decorated the night sky._

_The monkey king was floating on his cloud next to his master. Sandy rested in that small body of water with eyes shut and the horse had laid down to take a nap. Bajie on the other hand was forced to collect firewood for the group. Sandy had already fetched the group food so now they were just waiting for Bajie to bring back more firewood so they could keep warm throughout the night. The pig had brought a few logs back lazily and at a rather slow pace._

_The master had a hand on his own cheek as he sighed dreamily in Bajie’s direction. The pig had come out of the woods with two logs, he dragged the logs across the floor grumpy. Tripitaka’s face was slightly red and grinned ear to ear. Bajie locked eyes with their master and smiled. He noticed the prominent blush on his master’s face, he was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. He wanted to make him blush in other ways but ugh, he shouldn’t think like this, it’s inappropriate. Pigsy dropped the logs into the pile and settled on winking at his master. Tripitaka giggled, trying to hide his smile as his face grew hotter. Pigsy beamed and ran back into the forest to get more logs._

_“You know, you’re so obvious,” Wukong commented as he positioned a hand under his chin._

_Tripitaka glanced at his first disciple. “Wh-what are you talking about, Wukong?” He questioned._

_Wukong smirked. “Your feelings for the idiot, it’s obvious.”_

_The monk nervously took a quick peek at where Bajie was a few moments ago. “Wha-what? I don’t have feelings for Bajie. That would be completely inappropriate! Ba-bad monkey!”_

_The monkey cocked an eyebrow. “Master, we talk about this everytime I cat-.”_

_His master quickly shushed him. “I- I know. Wha- what if he can hear you?” He messed with his hands._

_His disciple rolled his eyes and pointed out, “He’s out of earshot. It’s fine.”_

_“O-okay… he is incredibly strong and handsome, don’t you think?” Tripitaka let out a dreamy sigh._

_Wukong scoffed and rolled his eyes again. “Yes, master. He’s incredibly strong and handsome.”_

_“And so sweet like when he offers to help me off the horse. He- he makes me laugh and smile…”_

_Wukong smirked. “You should tell him how you feel.”_

_Tripitaka blushed. “N-no. I can not do that! He would think it is weird and inappropriate.”_

_“This is Bajie we’re talking about. He is inappropriate.”_

_“He is not like that all the time,” Tripitaka defended. “Wouldn’t he think it was weird if his master wanted to enter a relationship with him? Plus I took a vow of celibacy that I can not break as a Buddhist monk.”_

_“Ehh, some vows were made to be broken. I don’t think Pigsy would think it’s weird at all if you said you wanted to be with him.”_

_“I- I can not do it. I have my vow of celibacy and he is into pretty women, he would never be into me…” A deep frown came across the monk’s face and directed his eyes towards the ground._

_“Master, he does like you. He’s in love with you. I see how he looks at you when he thinks you aren’t looking. Pretty women can’t change that.”_

_Sanzang met his disciple’s eyes as he gave him a thankful smile. “Thank you Wukong. I know that it is not true, but thank you for trying to cheer me up. I… can accept that he does not love me like I love him… I do not want him to feel obligated to love me…” He felt a single tear fall from his face, he wiped some tears that had been building with his palm._

_The monkey frowned at his master. “Master…” He sighed. “It will happen one day and when it does, I’ll be the best man at your wedding!”_

_Tripitaka’s face went red. “We-wedding?” Wukong chuckled and continued to playfully tease his master. Unknown to them, Bajie had caught sight of Tripitaka’s blush and Wukong’s smirk. He scowled and practically slammed the new logs he collected into the pile and stomped off._

* * *

As Wukong finished his story, he stared at Pigsy searching for a response. He held his breath, he knew his young- Pigsy would yell at him for “lying.” Sure enough, Pigsy slammed into a wall once again, snarling. 

“You’re still lyin’!” He growled. Why would his master, beautiful in mind and body, flawless skin, perfect lips, a gentle soul that managed to reform three demons through kindness alone without any sort of fighting ability, love him? He was an ugly pig demon who gave him into desires, flirting with women all over except the person he wanted the most while his gorgeous master remained celibate, able to refuse temptation. He wanted to abandon the journey right away while his master was determined to get the scriptures even when he got captured by demons. Seriously, how could his master love him? Love him and not his savior, Wukong. He knew the monkey was lying.

Wukong squinted his eyes at Pigsy. “I know I can’t change your mind but he did love you and I’m not lying.”

Pigsy punched the spot next to Wukong. “Yes you are!” Wukong continued to stare at him unfazed by Pigsy’s wrath.

“That’s enough!” Sandy interrupted. They directed their attention to him. “Fighting like this will not bring our master back! We need to work together! Second brother, let him go.”

“But he-.”

“Let. Him. Go,” Sandy asserted. Pigsy huffed as he pulled Wukong away from the wall and then removed his hand from Wukong’s clothing. 

“Thank you Wujing,” Wukong acknowledged and gave him a small smile.

“Of course, big brother.”

Pigsy crossed his arms and grumbled, “We don’t have to deal with him. We didn’t need him back then and we don’t need him now… he’s nothin’ but a liar.” 

“He’s our-”

“No, he isn’t. I told ya, I don’t have a big brother,” Pigsy told him as a reminder.

“Well I do. I have two big brothers, two wonderful big brothers. Even if you don’t consider him as a big brother, I do so big brother Bajie, please. Please, we need him to find our master. Him going to the Heaven and asking Guanyin is the farthest we’ve gotten to having some sense on where to look. Please,” Sandy pleaded as he got on both knees into a begging stance.

Pigsy’s heart broke at the sight of his brother’s begging. Fuck, what should he do? He was about to answer when Wukong intervened and said, “Wuneng, I don’t expect you to forgive me but please, let me help you find our master. I want to find him and make it up to you all for what he did. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The great sage’s voice cracked as he apologized.

“Ya think findin’ him is gonna make up for what you did?” He growled.

“No. Again, I don’t expect you to forgive me, not by a long shot. And…” The sage paused as his eyes landed momentarily at the ground and went back up to meet Bajie’s eyes. “...If it will make you happy, after we find our master, I’ll leave. You won’t have to see me again if you don’t want to, please let me try to make up for it even if it’s fleeting.”

Sandy gasped. “Big brother-” Wukong gave him a look to quiet his younges- younger brother.

Pigsy gazed deeply into the sage’s eyes, looking for any hint of deceit or trickery, when he found none, he sighed and removed his chef’s hat from his head. He grabbed the letter he had hidden under there and focused on the back of it. ‘For Bajie,’ he read again to himself. He wanted his master back so desperately. He put the letter in his chef’s hat and placed the hat back on his head. 

He directed his attention to the sage and grunted, “Fine. I’ll let ya help us but don’t expect me to like it. And don’t expect it to make up for the stuff you’ve done.”

“I don’t expect it to but I really am sorry.”

“It’s okay big brother Wukong,” Sandy replied. Wukong gave him a small smile and turned back to Pigsy.

Pigsy huffed again. “I’ll let ya help,” he repeated, “but if ya try and trick us, try to make us do all the work, somethin’ like that and…” He paused to think. “If anythin’ happens to the kid while he’s off being your successor, I’m kickin’ your ass, guaranteed.”

Wukong grinned and looked Pigsy with a mix of amusement and adoration. “I don’t expect anything less.” He looked around the storage room. “We should head back to the others.”

“Mhmm,” Pigsy responded. Sandy got up off his knees and was the first one to step out of the storage room. Wukong followed, patting Pigsy on the back. Pigsy glanced at him and stumbled out of the room. 

* * *

As they made their way out of the room after their talk, which took about 30 minutes, they were bombarded with questions from Mei and MK. Tang was too busy eating as many noodles as he could before Pigsy yelled at him.

Mei exclaimed “I heard some noise from the back but I got distracted by a puppy video.” She held her phone up to show them the video she was watching. “What were you all doing there?”

“And I came back from my deliveries and Mei told me she heard noises! Were you all talking about some super world saving stuff?” MK asked.

“Nothin’, kids,” Pigsy grumbled as he stood with crossed arms.

“Just some sibling stuff,” the monkey king replied and placed a hand on Sandy and Pigsy’s shoulders. Pigsy roughly shoved Wukong’s hand off.

Both MK and Mei eyed Sandy for a real answer. “Uhhhh, yep, what they said,” he responded, looking away from the two. Pigsy and Wukong facepalmed.

MK was about to question them further when Wukong’s ears twitched. The monkey king came up with an excuse. “Hey, bud. I think I sense a random demon attack. Why don’t you take care of it?”

“Oh okay!” MK beamed at his teacher. “C’mon Mei!” MK took the staff out of his ear and ran off with Mei skipping off after him.

“Did you really sense a demon?” Pigsy raised an eyebrow at Wukong.

“Nope, but I had to distract him somehow.” Wukong stretched. “Anyways, I should head back to my mountain.” He smiled at his younger brother and Bajie. “It was nice seeing you two again. I’ll come back soon so we can find more clues.”

“Bye big brother!” Sandy waved at him.

Wukong nodded. As he was about to leave, Tang hopped off the stool he was on to stop him. “Wait! Do you have to leave so soon?” Tang pondered. “You could stay a bit! Just for the night, you could stay with me and Pigsy!”

Pigsy growled. “What?”

“Really?” Wukong titled his head. “It wouldn’t be too much trouble?”

“Not at all! I’m sure Pigsy wouldn’t mind, you two could hang out more!” He went closer to Wukong.

Pigsy glared and instinctively wrapped an arm around Tang’s waist to pull him away from the monkey king. “Why the heck are ya invitin’ him to our apartment?”

“He’s your brother,” Tang commented, he smiled at Pigsy’s arm around his waist and leaned into him. “It will give you a chance to reconnect.”

Pigsy opened his mouth to argue when Sandy said “Uhhh, big brother, you can stay with me on my boat! With my cats!”

Wukong glanced between Pigsy, Tang and Sandy. Maybe this was a chance to make it up to Bajie. “Thank you both! I’ll stay with Pigsy and Tang for the night. Is that okay, Wujing?”

“Of course, big brother!”

He turned to Tang. “You absolutely sure I wouldn’t be a bother?”

Tang rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “Obviously not! It would be awesome to have the monkey king over!” He nudged Pigsy to make him comply, he gave him a pleading look.

Bajie sighed. “Fine but only for the night.”

Wukong nodded. “Okay, only for the night. Thank you.” He grinned. Pigsy huffed in response. Damn, Tang for making him invite Wukong. He could have said no but for some reason, Tang’s pleading gaze wanted to make him agree. Hopefully the monkey king wouldn’t be too much trouble or he was throwing the king out. Pigsy sighed again, all he knew was he definitely wasn’t going to enjoy this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed and yes, Wukong temporarily thought of attacking Tang for his "weird" vibe.


	6. Chapter 5: More Info and the Beginning of Old Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pigsy was mad at Tang forcing him to agree to bring Wukong home. He didn't want this monkey polluting their home. What was even worse was Tang had forced him to sleep on the couch so their "guest" could have a nice room and feel "welcomed." All he wanted to do was find his master again then he would never have to deal with Wukong ever again. That was the deal after all. He was still mad at Wukong for leaving them in the first place. He never wanted to see Wukong after this, he didn't care the monkey's reasons for disappearing, he just wanted him gone, at least that's what he thought he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter of "His Lost Master" is finally here! Sorry it took me a day or two to post the newest chapter. I fell asleep while trying to finish it then distracted. Hope you all like it!

Pigsy grumbled as he heard loud chatter come from the kitchen, too much noise. He rubbed his face, eyes still shut. He rolled around on the couch, adjusting the blanket to cover his head in an attempt to get more sleep. Damn Tang forced him to sleep on the couch. “It’s only polite that our guest gets to sleep in one of our rooms rather than the couch,” Tang had said last night. When Pigsy argued on why Tang couldn’t give Wukong his room, Tang replied “Oh, well my room is a mess right now, hardly suitable for the monkey king.” He knew that was a lie but he still ended up on the couch anyway. The alarm on his phone buzzed, he disabled the alarm clock in his room so the monkey king could sleep peacefully or some shit. Pigsy’s ears twitched in annoyance, he threw the blanket off and tiredly stood up. He pressed the off button on his phone, the buzzing died down immediately.

Pigsy trudged to the kitchen with a yawn. Pigsy noticed a steaming cup of tea left on the kitchen table. He carefully picked up the cup, blowing on it and taking a sip. He also noticed Wukong and Tang had been talking and laughing right near the fridge, friendly smiles on their faces. “I remember that time Pigsy decided to get me kicked out of the group with that white bone spirit. I was so pissed at him.”

Tang laughed. “I bet! One time, he was charmed by a spider demon and got us tangled in some webs.”

Wukong beamed then chuckled. “Of course he was.” He missed his brothers, it filled him with joy to hear how they were doing.

“It’s nice to hear about these tales from an actual source, Pigsy never told me much when he said he was Bajie.”

“Ha! Probably would have spun it in his favor if he did tell it. Good thing he isn’t trying to steal the glory or cause trouble anymore.”

“From what I read, he was difficult back then, that much hasn’t changed.”

“Seems like it. You’re a really cool guy, Tang. Glad to see someone actually cares about our old journey.”

“That means so much from you. Obviously, who wouldn’t care about it? You journeyed with your master and the rest of your group battling demons while trying to get the scriptures to redeem sinners. Who wouldn’t love it?”

Wukong wagged his tail. His eyes sparkled. He chattered out, “Wow, thanks! Our journey was impressive, especially the parts with me in it.”

The scholar giggled. “It most certainly was.”

Pigsy glared at them and gently placed the cup on the kitchen table. He roughly opened the fridge door to retrieve some milk, grumbling. Tang smirked at him. “Have a good sleep last night?” 

Pigsy shot him another glare and muttered “Shaddup…” He grabbed the milk and slammed the fridge shut. He took some cereal from the pantry and sat down. He continued mumbling as he ate.

Wukong smiled at Pigsy. “Nice to see you up, br- Bajie.” Bajie rolled his eyes. Wukong frowned. “Bajie…”

“I don’t wanna talk to you,” he mumbled.

Wukong closed his mouth as Tang stepped forward. “Pigsy…”

“What?” He growled.

“Don’t be rude to our guest.”

“No reason for me to be polite to that bitch,” he cursed.

“Don’t call him that!”

“Why shouldn’t I? Why are you defendin’ him? It’s not like you’ve known him longer than you’ve known me!”

“I di-” He blinked. “Well he is our guest and you should respect him as such!”

“I don’t have to respect him! You have no idea what I went through because of ‘im!” He pointed at the monkey.

Wukong put his hands up. “It’s fine. Bajie has every right to be angry with me. You shouldn’t fight on my account.”

Tang smiled. “You are a rather polite guest. I am sorry Pigsy is being well him.” He rolled his eyes.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pigsy growled again.

“You know what it means.” The scholar placed a hand on his hip.

Wukong coughed. “Don’t worry about it. There’s no harm in what Pigsy sa-”

“Yes there is,” the pig mumbled.

“I’m used to it. I deserve it after all the trouble I caused in the past.”

Tang hummed. “If you’re sure.” He checked his phone. “Looks like I have to go to work.” He hugged Pigsy who patted him on the back softly, a small blush was on Pigsy’s face. “Don’t be rude to our guest, okay?”

“Whatever,” he responded. 

Tang scoffed and turned to Wukong. “You are welcome to stay at our apartment anytime you’d like.”

“WHAT?” Pigsy yelled. Tang promptly elbowed him, the pig huffed.

“It’s always nice to hear about your adventures from you personally.”

Wukong gazed at his bro- old companion and frowned. He glanced at Tang. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind and I’ll tell more tales next time.”

Tang nodded and left the apartment to go to work, locking it behind him. Pigsy glared at Wukong and ate his cereal. Wukong chuckled nervously and stared at the ground. 

Eventually Pigsy got up and washed the dishes. “Ugh, Tang forgot to do the rest of the dishes.”

“He seems nice…” The king hoped it would break the tense environment.

“He’s somethin’. Always stealin’ noodles from me. Freeloader...” Pigsy wiped his hands with a small towel.

This conversation wasn’t going the way he wanted, it seemed like he pissed Pigsy off a little. “Bajie…”

Bajie put a hand up to quiet him. “I’m gonna stop you right there. I don’t wanna hear it.”

“Just… listen to me,” Wukong begged.

The pig slammed the towel down onto the ground. “WHY SHOULD I? I only have to talk to you when it’s related to master. After this I never have to see you again.”

“I… I know… can’t we talk?”

“I don’t talk to people who made **my** master leave.” He crossed his arms and stomped his feet.

“I get it… you have every right to be angry. I didn’t realize what my disappearance would cause. I’m sorry.”

The pig turned away from the monkey. “Because you’re stupid and selfish.”

“Because…” He closed his mouth a few times then opened it. “Because I thought you all didn’t need me anymore…”

Pigsy spun around with widened eyes. “What? Ya thought we didn’t need ya. That’s… that’s stupid… do ya really expect me to believe that?”

“No….”

“Do ya expect that stupid excuse to make up for all you’ve done?”

“NO! OF COURSE NOT! But it’s the truth….”

“You’re “the great sage equal to heaven” and ya thought we didn’t need you? If you’re tryin’ to make up for everythin’, don’t use that a stupid excuse.”

Wukong waved his hands in defense. “I’m not.”

“Really? Because that’s all you seem to do. Ya use an excuse for everythin’ like with the kid, ya gave him the staff simply because you “retired,” ya used that to put your responsibilities on an innocent kid! And now you’re doin’ it too, tryin’ to feed me some stupid excuse on how we didn’t need ya and that’s why you left. Don’t act like I’m naive, Wukong!”

“I’M NOT! About the kid, I wouldn’t have given him the staff if I didn’t know he could handle it and he can handle it. I’m not making up any excuses! What do you think the kid isn’t worthy enough?”

Bajie sighed. “He’s great but you put too much pressure on him. He needs to be a kid, he doesn’t deserve to have that pressure on him! Like I had that pressure on me when you left…” he mumbled.

“Pigsy… if anything happens to the kid, you told me you’ll kick my ass...”

“You’re damn right.”

“I promise nothing will happen to him. I’m sorry I put so much pressure on you, that you felt the need to fix everything.”

“That doesn’t make up for it at all!”

“I know… no amount of apologies can make up for it.” He closed his eyes. “When we finished our journey… I felt useless… I had no one to protect anymore… you were all given positions and I no longer had to fight demons to guard you. I didn’t want to say anything so I didn’t. You all seemed like you wanted to put it past you, like the journey didn’t matter… When DBK attacked, I saw it as my chance to disappear. I thought since you didn’t need me, it was a good chance. Believe me if you want, punch me if you want,” Wukong wept and his bottom lip jutted out. “If I had known this would happen, I never would have left.”

Pigsy scanned him. His bro- Wukong was an idiot, they always needed him even when they were no longer traveling. There was no hint of lies coming from the monkey. Why did he think they didn’t need him? They always needed him, Pigsy would admit they were somewhat useless without him. He’s how they got through everything. Did he think that the journey didn’t matter to the rest of them one bit? They did reminisce about the journey a lot, did Wukong think they only did that for his sake or something? The pig clenched his fists, the monkey shut his eyes in preparation for a punch to the face.

The pig showing restraint, ended up punching him in the shoulder. He scowled “YOU IDIOT! OBVIOUSLY WE NEEDED YOU! Even when ya no longer had to fight demons, we still needed ya. We didn’t just need ya, we wanted to hang with ya… I wanted to hang with ya…”

“Bajie….”

“You were always better than me. You got us out of the trouble I put us in. You were always better and I… I can see why master loved you. Ya were braver, smarter and a hundred then I ever was. I can see why he loved you and why he was upset when you left…You were his savior, I… I could never compete.” He rubbed his arm. “And the journey… it was important to me too, y’know? It was how I met master.” A smile and blush appeared on his face when he thought of his master. “And you and Sandy, it’s how I was allowed back into Heaven. I hated the pig I was back then but… what I liked most was getting to know you guys.”

Wukong beamed. “Glad to know that you thought the journey was important to you too.”

“Obviously, it was. The journey always mattered to me, all of us. We never put it all behind us. I never would have gotten back to Heaven if it wasn’t for the journey. I wouldn’t be anywhere if it wasn’t for master…. no matter how much he loved you, I loved him no matter what.”

The monkey smile quickly turned into a frown. “Pigsy, do you still believe he loved me? That I was his favorite? I told you, you were his favorite. He was in love with you. He left a letter for you and no one else.”

The cook rolled his eyes. “Yea, sure… what would be good about me that he would love me for?”

“Well you did try to cheer him up and fix everything. You have your good qualities. He loved you.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it,” the cook mumbled.

“Maybe when we find whoever he reincarnated as then you can have a talk about this and he can tell you the truth.”

“Maybe…”

The king’s mouth quirked up. “I’m glad you thought I was brave and smart back then.”

“Shaddup.”

“I’m sorry again for what I did. I genuinely thought you didn’t need me. I… wish I could take it all back.”

“I told ya we didn’t just need you. We wanted ya.”

“I know… I’m truly sorry. That’s why I’m trying to make up for it whichever way I can.”

“I can’t forgive ya yet. I don’t know if I ever can.”

Wukong nodded in understanding. “I don’t expect you to.”

“But I understand a little…”

“Huh?”

“What it’s like to want to be needed…”

“The kid seems to need you…”

Pigsy answered, “I guess he does. It’s been awhile since ya left that I felt wanted and needed aside from y’know master…”

Wukong nodded again. “I see…”

“Doesn’t mean I can justify it.”

“I know, don’t expect you too. Bajie?”

“Hm?”

“I promise again that I’ll leave if you don’t want to see me after we find master.”

Pigsy thought for a bit and placed a hand on the king’s shoulder. “Well until then, wanna help me at the shop?”

The king beamed. “Sure! I would love to.”

The pig found himself smiling back slightly. He might have not forgiven Wukong immediately but it was a good start. It would take a long time before he would forgive him completely, if he decided to forgive him at all, but it helped, he guess and maybe having Wukong around wouldn’t be bad. He missed his older brother after all.

* * *

The monkey swept around the store. He had been helping Pigsy with various activities around the shop, everything except cooking, of course. Pigsy joked that he was probably a terrible cook and would get fur in the broth, Wukong nudged him in response. They mostly worked in silence, occasionally sharing a joke or memory, it was kinda nice. It felt good to be able to talk to each other normally but there was some tenseness now that they were alone.

Pigsy had to usher MK out of the place since he was too busy trying to impress his idol and what not. Took a lot to push him out the door to make his deliveries. Wukong had to convince him as well. Pigsy hated seeing the heartbroken look on his kid’s face but he reassured him that if he got his deliveries done early then he could hang out with his idol for a bit.

The lunch rush just passed so hopefully there wouldn’t be too many demands for take out. He wanted his kid to be happy yet sometimes it was hard when his kid became unfocused, work was important to Pigsy and he wanted to teach Xiaotian the value of hard work.

“So, Pigsy?”

“Yea?”

“What did you do to make your soup so good anyway?” Wukong asked.

“Secret recipe,” he responded.

“What secret recipe?” The monkey titled his head as he continued sweeping.

“Wouldn’t be much of a secret if I told ya, plus only truly great chefs can know.”

Wukong put a hand on his chest. “Hey! I take offense to that! I’m a great chef!”

“Yea, sure, believe that when I see it.”

“Well I never!” They both laughed.

Pigsy wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the noodle shop with him and Wukong for a while until Tang appeared. Weird, Tang wasn’t supposed to show up until an hour or so. He had a bandage on the side of his head, he was clearly thinking about something, a blush was on his cheeks.

Wukong noticed him first, Pigsy was too busy stirring. “Hey Tang! What’s with the bandage?”

“Ummm, well, you see.”

Pigsy looked up and turned the stove off immediately. He rushed to Tang and grabbed his face, forcing him to lean down. “WHAT HAPPENED? Why are ya back so early? Are ya okay?!” He examined the bandage.

Tang blushed more and stuttered, “Well… umm... I hit my head…”

“WHAT?”

“I’m fine! Honestly… I just got distracted during work… I bumped my head on a shelf while walking.”

Pigsy checked Tang’s head again. “Are ya sure? Do ya need to go to hospital? I can drive ya right now.”

Tang cupped his face. “I’m fine.” Wukong was watching the scene with amusement and kept sweeping. He touched Pigsy’s forehead with his own. “I promise, Bajie.”

The pig’s face turned red and he purred a bit. “Okay…” The scholar smiled and hugged him. “Ya… ya sure you don’t need to go to the hospital?” He wrapped his arms around Tang.

“I’m sure, Bajie.”

“Ummm… okay.”

“Same, old Bajie. Always helping me however you can.”

Pigsy raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“I- I MEAN! Always helping all of us, despite the fact that you’re a grump half the time.”

“HEY! I’m not grumpy!”

Tang giggled. “Su- sure. Whatever you say.” 

“You’re actin’ weird. I can get my keys.” 

“I’m fine! I told you! I’m just a little… out of it.”

“I would say you’re more than out of it.”

“Nothing a bowl of noodles can’t cure.”

“Why are ya actually goin’ to pay this time?”

“Ye…. no…”

The pig sighed. “Go sit in your usual place, alright?”

He nodded, patted Bajie’s face and then sat in his usual place. Pigsy blushed and grumbled. How dare Tang call him a grump? He glanced at Tang, he was acting really weird, hopefully he didn’t need to actually go to the hospital. He went behind the counter, scooping some soup from the pot into a bowl as well as some noodles and handed it to Tang.

Tang grabbed it eagerly. “Awww, I think this is a first. Is this because I bumped my head? Should… should do that more often than…” He mumbled rather flustered. 

“I’d prefer ya didn’t.” He hummed and ran his hands through Tang’s hair near where the wound was. “Hmmmm….”

“Wha- what? Something wrong?”

“Nothin’. Just makin’ sure you’re okay.”

That statement made Tang hide his face behind his bowl of noodles. “So sweet, like back then… glad to see that hasn’t changed. You’re still taking care of me even in this life,” he mumbled to himself.

“Hm?” Pigsy might not have heard it but Wukong did, his eyes widened and he thought to himself.

“Nothing!” He slurped the noodles up to hide his growing blush.

Bajie blinked. “Alright…”

He felt himself being pulled away from the spot he was in and dragged away from Tang. Tang was too immersed in his noodles to notice. He came face to face with the monkey who dropped the broom and stared at him with sparkling eyes. The cook squinted his eyes at the monkey. “What?”

The monkey smirked and responded, “That was adorable. I hope I don’t have to tell master that you’re cheating on him.”

The cook pushed him slightly. He hissed, “Shaddup.”

“Do you like Tang or something?”

“NO!” Pigsy yelled, Tang looked up from his bowl to give them a questioning gaze. Pigsy shot him a small smile, Tang shrugged and went back to his bowl. Pigsy whispered, “Shaddup…”

“I’m not judging you, bro. Master might be a little jealous though. He never liked it when you flirted with others, women mostly.”

“There’s no reason for master to be jealous,” he pointed out. “I mean there’s no reason for him to be jealous since he doesn’t like me like that.” The pig crossed his arms.

“Pigsy…”

“Plus no one can occupy his place…. I mean Tang’s cute.” He blushed. “I mean not cute at all. I tried to move on with a lot of different people when master left. Tried dating and ya heard that story with the spider demon. No one could occupy my heart the way he did. I only want him,” he admitted shyly.

Wukong frowned and patted Wuneng’s shoulder. “Well maybe when we find his reincarnated spirit then you can finally be together.”

“Or reject me.”

“He won’t. I swear. We’ll find him soon.” He made a hand gesture, Pigsy thought he was just making a gesture but the gesture was directed towards Tang’s direction. Wukong stared at Tang and squinted his eyes.

Wuneng hummed. “I hope that’s true. I’ll be right back.”

“Alright.” The monkey picked up the broom and continued sweeping, taking the occasional glance at Tang. His younger brother wasn’t paying attention but Wukong had a feeling why Tang has such a weird vibe to him yet he wasn’t sure. “I’ll watch over the store until you finish whatever it is.”

Bajie nodded and walked to the storage room. He arrived in the storage room rather quickly and pulled a stool he had in there and sat down. He searched his hat for something, he pulled out the letter, he had grabbed it before he left. Pigsy sighed and buried his face in his hands. He shook his head.

He opened it, his eyes reading those same words. ‘Dear Bajie, I have so much to say to you.’ He closed it and placed it back in his hat. Gods, he was terrified on what the rest of the letter said and he was still angry at his master even then he wanted to talk to him.

He got up from his stool and called out, “Master!” He waited a few seconds and received no response. He glanced at the ground, kicking a small box. “Try to be there, yea, right,”

Pigsy turned to leave when Tripitaka appeared in his ghostly form. Tripitaka’s eyes showed hints of happiness, a grin on his face. He approached Bajie, footsteps heard from him. Bajie heard the footsteps and looked at his master. His eyes widened as he glanced at him. “BAJIE!” Tripitaka leapt towards the cook, wrapping him in a hug.

The cook’s mouth was open. “Ya… ya actually showed up.”

Tripitaka giggled. “Of course I did. You called me after all.” He nuzzled Wuneng’s nose. Wuneng bowed. “You don’t need to bow.”

“It’s polite, master.” He stood up and hesitantly wrapped his arms around his master who cupped his face.

“Yes it is but you don’t need to do it.” He nuzzled Bajie again. “I’ve been watching you.”

“Not creepy at all,” his disciple joked.

The Buddhist rolled his eyes. “I see you are trying to find my reincarnated spirit with Sun Wukong and Sha Wujing. It is nice to see you all together again.”

“Only workin’ with the monkey until we find ya.”

His master raised his eyebrow. “Do you not want to reconnect him?” He inquired.

“I don’t know…” Pigsy contemplated that for a second. “How are ya not mad at him disappearing like that?”

“I know he had his reasons from what I heard in your conversation.”

Pigsy scoffed. “Doesn’t mean I forgive him. I would be mad at him if I was you.”

“I’m not forcing you to. Well I am more forgiving, I suppose.”

“Master?”

“Yes?” He ran his hand over Bajie’s face.

“I thought ya were a hallucination at first when ya appeared that one time.”

Tripitaka hummed. “While as you can see, I am as real as can be, not including the ghost part. I’m sorry I did not tell you the truth at the beginning.”

“You should have. Why are ya here now? After all these years when your spirit might have out there. Why now? Are ya so miserable in this life that ya decided to find me?”

“What? Pigsy…” He lifted the pig’s chin up. “It is quite the opposite actually. I am happy in this life.”

“Then why now?”

“I am closer than you to ever in this new life of mine. I did not think that when I got closer to you that Xiaotian would obtain the staff and become Wukong’s successor.”

Pigsy muttered, “It’s a surprise for sure.”

They stayed there in silence for a bit as they stared into each other’s eyes. They had no idea what to say next. 

Finally, Tripitaka asked, “Have you read the letter Lady Guanyin gave you?”

Pigsy grumbled, “Only the first line or so.”

His master looked hurt. “Why?”

He growled, “Why do ya think? I’m still pissed at ya for leavin’! Ya abandoned us… and I miss you so much but I… I don’t know. I just can’t read it.”

“I… I understand… when you read it, it explains things… things I could never say.”

“That’s just it! I don’t wanna hear stuff from a damn letter! I want to hear somethin’ from you! A damn apology or whatever it is in that stupid thing can’t make everythin’ better. I want to hear it from you!” Pigsy let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his snout. He clenched his fists. “I don’t know how to feel about this whole thing. I… I searched for ya for so long and then I could never find ya. And now, I have a chance to find ya after so long. I don’t know how to feel…”

Tripitaka kissed his forehead. He took a step back, he looked away from Pigsy, arms tucked in his sleeves. “I can not blame you. I would not know what to do if I was in the same situation. You have a right to be mad, I vanished on you when you needed me most. I am a lousy master.”

“You are not lousy!”

“I am… I am lousy. I apologize for everything. For making you take care of me, for leaving that note without warning, for leaving period. I should have told you. I should have talked to you. I am sorry for coming back into your life suddenly, that I appeared the way I did.” He sniffled. The pig observed his master, fuck, he made his master cry. The pig placed his hands up to soothe his master, Tripitaka shook his head. “I should have given you more information when I first appeared… or maybe I shouldn’t have appeared at all. You might have been happier this way.” Tears rolled down his cheeks. “I am sorry, Bajie.”

Pigsy grunted a bit. He wiped his master’s tears away. “Please don’t cry. I don’t like seein’ ya cry.”

“Sorry… you should not have to take care of me again. There are times I am not good at words but I do care about you alot and since I care about you, you do not have to find me if you do not want that.”

“Master… I never said I didn’t want to find ya. I just have mixed feelings about this whole thing. I took care of ya back then because I wanted to.”

“Thank you for everything you did back then. I still appreciate it.”

“Of course, master. I…” He paused. “I don’t know if that’s enough for me to forgive ya completely.” He wiped the rest of his master’s tears.

Tripitaka nodded. “I understand… thank you Wuneng again.”

“Mhmm.” Did his master think he was happier if he didn’t search for him? He was mad, yes, but he was also confused, confused on how to approach this whole thing and a bunch of mixed feelings. An idea flashed through his mind, what if he asked his master to tell him who he was reincarnated as? That would make everything much easier. “Soooo…. Master, who were ya reborn as?”

Tripitaka glanced down. “I can not tell you that… I can not tell you everything.”

The pig stomped his feet. “Why?”

“The reason is telling you who I am reborn as when he is starting to remember is a bad idea. There is a possibility that you will find the person and force him to remember more before they are ready,” he commented.

Pigsy made an offended gasp. “I wouldn’t do that.”

Tripitaka placed a hand on his hip and raised his eyebrow. “Uh huh, if you did not do it then you would tell Wukong and he certainly would. You used to make rather impulsive decisions back then, I know you have changed but I am afraid that it might be a possibility.”

Pigsy huffed, “Maybe you have a point with the Wukong thing.”

“And…?”

“I guess I would do that to then… can you at least give me one hint?”

His master smiled. “I can do that.” He stroked his chin. “Now what would be a good hint to give.”

“Be as specific as possible.”

His master laughed. “If you are lucky.” 

“I have horrible luck,” he joked.

Tripitaka kissed Bajie’s cheek. Bajie purred in response. He let out another laugh and scratched Wuneng’s ears, Wuneng’s purrs became louder. “Not in my book. Maybe I can give you a more specific hint after all.” He thought for a bit. “Ah! Now I know.”

“What is it?”

He cupped the pig’s face and gazed into his blue eyes. “It is related to your cooking. The hint is “I have always loved your cooking, even now I can not get enough of it. It will continue to be my favorite.”

“What kind of hint is that? I own a noodle shop, not easy to narrow it down.”

His master facepalmed. “It is somewhat specific enough for you to know who it is but not figure it out completely.”

“Can’t ya give me a better one?” He added a “please.”

“You did ask for one. I promise we will be a family again.”

“Hmph. I guess I did…. and I hope so...”

“Do not worry, I promise the hint will help.”

“It better.”

“That sounds like a threat.” The master grinned. 

“Depends…”

“On?”

He smirked and blurted out, “If ya give me another kiss.” He stammered, “Ummm… if ya want to…” His master planted a kiss near his mouth, Tripitaka closed his eyes. It was gentle and it made Pigsy’s heart beat fast. 

It lasted a few seconds before his master backed away slightly, opening his eyes. Pink appeared on his cheeks. Pigsy almost whined at the loss of contact and he was glad he didn’t. “Better?” His master nudged him.

Pigsy stammered, “Yea… yea.” His master kissed him. **His master** kissed **him**. He immediately wondered why. Didn’t his master love Wukong? He was his hero, not Bajie.

“Bajie, are you okay?”

“Yea… yea… just one problem.”

“Hm?”

“Ya… ya kinda missed.”

His master held a hand up to his mouth as he chuckled. “I... I will not miss next time.”

“Good.” He kissed his master’s hand. “This…” he gestured between them. “Doesn’t mean I forgive ya. I’m just returnin’ the favor.”

“I understand.” He kissed Pigsy’s cheek again. “I…. ummm… hope we can do it again… but for now I have to go.”

Pigsy crossed his arms. “Bye… I guess…”

“Before I leave, Wukong was right.”

“Right about?”

“You are my favorite. You have always been my favorite. Goodbye for now.” And like that, he vanished.

Pigsy blinked and grinned. He stayed there a few seconds before deciding to leave.

* * *

Wuneng stepped out of the storage room. He rubbed his face. He glanced at Tang and Wukong. There were four bowls stacked on top of each other. Ugh, Wukong gave Tang more noodles. He noticed a blush on Tang’s face, the monkey was talking to him with a smirk and a wink. The pig clenched his fists, he felt angry for some reason. Was Wukong flirting with Tang? 

Wukong shouldn’t be flirting with Tang at all! It felt like that one memory Wukong told him about the other day. He wanted to stomp up to them and break them apart. He took deep breaths. He had no reason to be angry, he and Tang were just friends. Wukong was probably messing with Tang anyway.

He walked towards them. “Havin’ fun without me?”

Wukong grinned. “You’re finally back. Yep, we’re just talking.”

“Yea… yea…” Tang responded. He ate some of his noodles, he couldn’t look Pigsy in the eyes.

Pigsy pulled out his phone to check for potential orders. “Any customers come in while I was gone?”

“A few. I handled it!” Wukong remarked proudly.

“You handled it? Ha!”

“I did! Quite well actually.”

Tang agreed with “He did. Nothing bad happened while you were gone.”

“See, Tang agrees!” He beamed and wrapped an arm around Tang.

“I believe ya. Also…” He pointed at Wukong. “Stop teasin’ Tang, will ya?”

“Whatever, you say.”

“I’m fine, Pigsy.”

“Sure.” He turned on the stove and stirred the broth. Tang gave Pigsy nervous and sad looks. It was enough for Pigsy to notice. “You okay, Tang?” He asked.

“Ye… yea… why wouldn’t I be? Although I would be better with more noodles,” he stated, putting his now empty bowl on the table.

“Wukong already gave you some. Ya sure you’re okay? You’ve been actin’ weird.”

“I… I’m fine… have a headache is all. I’ll meet you back at the apartment.” He patted Bajie over the counter and waved. He stared down at the ground as he walked out. Bajie waved stunned while Wukong nodded in understanding.

Pigsy muttered, “What’s up with him? Maybe I should have taken him to the hospital.”

Wukong replied, “I’m sure he’s fine. At the very least, he appears perfectly fine. Maybe just out of it. Or remembering something...”

“What?”

“Nothing… Guanyin wasn’t lying when she said he was close to you.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t worry about it, bro. I’m going to leave to hang out with the kid for a bit then go back home to watch over my monkeys.”

“Okay… thanks for the help. I… appreciate it.”

Wukong went behind the counter to hug him. Pigsy hugged back with one arm. The monkey paused a few feet away from the door. He turned back and gave the pig a slight wave then strutted out.

Pigsy waved back. He thought back to his earlier conversation with his master. He then pulled out the letter from his hat and read. ‘Dear Bajie, I have so much to say to you. There is a great deal that I could not say to you when you were taking care of me out of fear and shock at Wukong’s disappearance. Now that I have made the decision to reincarnate, I can finally find the last bit of strength before I leave to write to you this.’ Wuneng sighed and put the letter under his hat again. He shook his head, he was not ready to read this. The letter would stress him out and he was already worried about Tang’s weird behavior earlier. He continued stirring, ignoring the mixed emotions that ran through him. He needed to fulfill these orders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooo, looks like Tang is starting to remember. Looks like Wukong is starting to suspect something. Pigsy is oblivious. Hope you liked it!


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